Benoit Paire won the match of the day at the Moselle Open on Friday, saving one match point to knock out 2014 champion and top-seeded Belgian David Goffin. The Frenchman dented Goffin’s hopes of making up ground in the Emirates ATP Race To London with a 7-6(3), 5-7, 7-6(7) victory over two hours and 25 minutes in Metz. Paire recovered from a 2-4 deficit in the first set, prior to being broken by Goffin at 5-5 in the second set. Goffin took a 4-2 lead in the decider, then fought back from 3/5 down in the tie-break only to squander a match point at 6/5. It was Paire’s third win in four meetings over Goffin. Paire, who is 0-4 in...
David Goffin opened his quest for his second Moselle Open title on Thursday. The second-seeded Belgian, who captured the 2014 trophy (d. Sousa), knocked out Spaniard Nicolas Almagro 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 for a place in the quarter-finals against Benoit Paire, who recorded the 150th match win of his career. Earlier in the day, Paire had cruised past Marcel Granollers of Spain 6-1, 6-2 in 55 minutes. Goffin’s hopes of winning a third ATP World Tour title, and boost his chances of rising up the Emirates ATP Race To London (currently No. 13) for one of the six remaining places at the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held at The O2 in London, were helped when Romania’s Marius Copil knocked out...
Veteran Frenchman Nicolas Mahut continued his push to break back into the Top 100 of the Emirates ATP Rankings with a 6-1, 7-6(4) first-round win over German shotmaker Dustin Brown at the Moselle Open in Metz, France, Wednesday. The current World No. 107 slipped out of the Top 100 for the first time in more than two years in July but put himself back within range by winning five matches at the US Open to come through qualifying to reach the third round for the second consecutive year. Mahut first played the Moselle Open in 2003. He is a two-time semi-finalist at the event (2013, 07) and has reached the quarter-finals the past two years. To reach the quarters again, he...
It was an unhappy return for Frenchman Richard Gasquet as he played his first match in Metz since 2001. The sixth seed was beaten 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 by Denis Istomin in the first round of the Moselle Open on Tuesday. It was a fast turnaround for Gasquet, who captured his first ATP Challenger Tour title in seven years when he triumphed in Szczecin on Sunday. Istomin saved 10 of the 13 break points he faced as he overturned a 1-6 FedEx ATP Head2Head record against Gasquet to prevail in one hour and 54 minutes. [ALSO LIKE] Seventh seed Benoit Paire recorded his third match win on his fifth appearance in Metz by beating Greek qualifier Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-2, 6-4 in...
