World No 1 Jannik Sinner cruised into the third round of the French Open and ended Richard Gasquet’s career for good measure.
Veteran Frenchman Gasquet had announced he would retire after his 22nd Roland Garros campaign, and would have needed to pull off a major shock to prolong his last tournament.
There was to be no fairy tale in Paris for the 38-year-old, who bowed out with one final flourish of that inimitable one-handed backhand in a 6-3 6-0 6-4 defeat.
Sinner is bidding for the second part of a potential calendar-year grand slam and to become the first Italian men’s champion since 1976.
But the 23-year-old knew this was Gasquet’s day, and said: “Congrats for everything you have done, an amazing career, but most importantly an amazing person.”
There was a surprise in the men’s draw when Alex De Minaur, the Australian ninth seed, blew a two-set lead to lose to Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan 2-6 2-6 6-4 6-3 6-2.
“I think I lost that one,” said the 26-year-old. “This is a match I win 99.9 per cent of the time. Today was just the odd occasion that it slipped away.”
Third seed Alexander Zverev, last year’s runner-up, dropped the first set against Dutchman Jesper De Jong but hit back to win 3-6 6-1 6-2 6-3.
French 14th seed Arthur Fils came through a dramatic four-and-a-half-hour marathon against Spain’s Jaime Munar.
The 20-year-old needed treatment for a back injury during the third set and could barely move in the fourth, but the painkillers kicked in just in time for him to complete a 7-6 (3) 7-6 (4) 2-6 0-6 6-4 win.
PA
