Great win tonight for Nicolas Mahut at Rotterdam, who played qualifying before this match against Teymuraz Gabashvili. A two sets victory (6/4, 7/6(4)) in 1h50 minutes on the court.
As always, the French played well with a good serve. 71% of first serve won in the match.
In the first set, Mahut and Gabashvili were in a fight and no break until 5/4 for the French. Just one crual break at the wrong moment and Mahut took the first set. A good start for him a a capital break ! He never took a set to Gabashvili before, in two match played.
The second set was more undecided than the first. Three break points saved by Mahut and one by Gabashvili. It’s the Russian who took the lead first with a great game on Mahut’s serve. He took the break, 4/3. But the hardest thing is to keep an advantage. And it wasn’t the case for Teymuraz. Nicolas Mahut didn’t give up and broke again his opponent to equalize, 4/4.
Both players went to a intense tie-break. Teymuraz Gabashvili took the lead again with a mini break, 4/2. But Mahut came back and score five points in a row to win the match !
A good start for Nicolas Mahut, his first victory against the Russian.
He will meet one of his great friends at the next round. Richard Gasquet or Jérémy Chardy.
