TipResumen

PREVIEW

After failing to win a match on the hard courts since the very first tournament of 2018, Laslo Djere was the beneficiary of a Leonardo Mayer retirement in the First Round. He was in control of the match when the Argentinian decided to pull out, but I think he will need some more help if he is going to get past Richard Gasquet in the Second Round. Gasquet is a competent hard court player, but injury issues and scheduling has meant he has only played sixteen matches on the surface in 2018. His 9-7 record is a little disappointing, but Gasquet looked to be in fine form in the First Round as he crushed Yuichi Sugita in straight sets and I do think he can back that up with another strong performance. One of the disappointments for the Frenchman has to be his sub-80% hold percentage on the hard courts as that really does ramp up the pressure in trying to win matches. The second serve numbers are slightly down on 2017 which has contributed to the hold percentage slipping from 81% to 78% in 2017 to 2018, but Gasquet's hold numbers are still way up on Laslo Djere's and there is a real difference in the return numbers which is likely going to be the difference between the players on the day. While Djere has struggled with his return game on the hard courts, Gasquet has been pretty effective and it should show up here when you consider the Serb's service numbers are average at best. With Djere having a break percentage of 12% and Gasquet's standing at over double that at 26% I would expect the latter to have the majority of break points and he should be able to secure a set by at least a double break advantage. That is a key to covering a number as big as this one in this Second Round match and I do think Gasquet can do that. He will need to serve a little better than he has for much of 2018, but the confidence of his performance from the First Round should be able to carry over and lead to a relatively serene progress through to the next Round.



PREDICTION

I will look for the Frenchman to prove a little too good for Laslo Djere and grind him down to cover the number.