Spaniards Up, Frenchies Down

Spaniards Tommy Robredo and David Ferrer enjoyed wins over Frenchmen Michael Llodra and Richard Gasquet in singles action today in Shanghai.

After suffering from injuries this year, Michael Llodra has dropped in the rankings. He qualified for the tournament this weekend but unfortunately drew Tommy Robredo in the first round in a bad case of tournament evils. Robredo had no trouble dispatching the French qualifier 6-1 6-4 after 105 minutes of play. The Spaniard’s win draws Robredo ahead 2-1 in their head-to-head match ups.

In another case of tournament evils, Richard Gasquet met David Ferrer. Ferrer had no trouble dealing with Gasquet and bested the Frenchman 6-4 6-3 after just 85 minutes of play. Ferrer managed to break him five times during the course of the match. It could have been a larger rout if Ferrer had not allowed Gasquet to break back twice in the first set.

Today’s victory now gives Ferrer a 5-1 lead over Gasquet in their head-to-head meetings. Though the Frenchman is still trying to get back into form, he has a long way to go. Hopefully, he will put in some long hours of training in the off-season.

Robredo will now meet German Florian Mayer in the next round, and Ferrer will encounter compatriot Feliciano Lopez in another evil match up. Robredo should enjoy his relatively easy second-round match because he could be on a collision course with Rafael Nadal in the round after that.

(Images: Andy Wong/AP, Eugene Hoshiko/AP)