This is unquestionably the tie of the round with the battle of the one handed backhands. Both players are two of the most entertaining to watch. This is a battle of two former top 10 players. Both have reached the latter stages of slams. Gasquet reaching the semi finals in Wimbeldon in 07 before losing to Federer. Youzhny in the semi finals of the Us Open in 06 losing to Roddick. After both reached the semi finals of slams both have tumbled down the rankings rather quick both. In 11 slams that Youzhny played afterwords he has only reached one Quarter Final his best performance at the Australian Open were in 07&08 . In the six slams Gasquet has played since he has made the fourth round at the Australian Open and he reached the fourth round Wimbeldon that year also.
Both players seem to be on the up again Youzhny at one point was as low as 70 in the rankings at one point last year, Gasquet largely had a year to forget after the Drugs debacle but when cleared to play again he showed a few signs of the player who was in the top 10 at one point. Gasquet has started off the season much better reaching the Quarters and a Final in his two warm up events. Youzhny has lost his only match this season.
These two players have the capacity to produce a nervey classic or a spectacle. Lets hope both players produc the game that got them to a slam semi and the top 10 and not a match that features both players form for the majority of the last two years. I feel Gasquet is mentally still a tad unsettled when the tight moments come around and I think his nature to be passive in the tight moments will trouble him and I can see Youzhny clinching his first victory of 2010 in four tight sets.
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