Lucas Pouille shrugged off his shock first round exit at the Australian Open by rebounding to win his first title of 2018. The Frenchman defeated compatriot Richard Gasquet 7-6, 6-4 in Montpellier.
Gasquet started well, but failed to break in a Pouille service game where he had 15-30. Indeed, the veteran would earn no break points in the first set. Pouille would, but three times the younger man was thwarted as Gasquet forced the tiebreak.
It was Pouille who had been the most consistent though the first set. He was rewarded with the set, earning a pair of mini breaks from Gasquet, who offered little.
Pouille earned the first break of the match proper in game five of the second set. Pouille held serve relatively comfortably again, as Gasquet found himself unable to muster a single break point in the second set. The lone exception was as Pouille served for the match. Gasquet fended off three match points to get back to deuce. Pouille then closed it out at the fourth time of asking.
The win sees Pouille take his first title in Montpellier, adding to other titles in Budapest, Metz, Vienna and Stuttgart. Pouille moves to a 4-1 record over Gasquet, having not lost to the 31 year-old since their first meeting here in Montpellier in 2013. Pouille won the title despite a slightly fortuitous win over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the semis. Tsonga had been leading 6-1, 5-5 before he was forced to retire with an injury. Pouille could move as high as No.12 in the ATP rankings as a result of his title win.
Gasquet, a veteran of six Montpellier finals, drops to a 3-3 record in the tournament. He had won the title in 2013, 2015, and 2016. He had reached the final in 2017, and 2014. The veteran can look back on a strong tournament in which he knocked out top seed David Goffin in the semi-finals.
Both men are playing in Rotterdam next week. Pouille, seeded 7th, faces Andrey Rublev in the first round. Gasquet, unseeded faces compatriot qualifier Pierre Hugues-Herbert in his opener.
