Invited by the organizers of the Antwerp tournament, Richard Gasquet lost as soon as he entered the competition against the Argentinian Tomas Etcheverry, ranked 100 ranks ahead of him.
It was his first match since the announcement of his upcoming retirement at the end of Roland-Garros 2025. And he lost it. Richard Gasquet failed to create the feat against Tomas Etcheverry in the first round of the ATP 250 in Antwerp, a tournament he won in 2016 when he was 19th in the world. Today, the 38-year-old tennis player is ranked 135th and he benefited from an invitation from the organizers to play in the tournament..
Opposed to a player ranked 100 ranks in front of him, the Biterrois resisted well but ended up losing with a score of 7-6, 6-4 in 1h49. Despite his eight aces, Gasquet lost his serve three times during this meeting. In the first set, he saved a break point at 1-2, but not the one at 3-4. However, the Frenchman managed to break immediately (4-5) and pushed the Argentinian, whom he faced for the first time, to play a tie-break. In the decisive game, Gasquet came back from 0-2 to 3-2, but from 4-3 in his favor he lost four points in a row, and therefore the set.