Richard Gasquet hits a return shot against Marco Cecchinato during their Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships match on Monday.

Amir Naqvi, Sports Editor

Richard Gasquet reached the second round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships after beating Marco Cecchinato 6-4, 6-2 on Monday.

Gasquet took more than an hour to defeat the world No.89 from Italy at the Centre Court. With this win, the world No.49 from France recorded his 550th tour-level win.

He is now sixth on the list of most career wins among active players, behind Roger Federer with 1243, Rafael Nadal with 1008, Novak Djokovic with 943, Andy Murray with 677 and Fernando Verdasco with 552.

 “I am feeling great here,” Gasquet said after winning the match. “I know this court well. I played well in Dubai last year. It is a fast court. I like to play on it. It is important to serve well and it was a great match. I started well, feeling confident and winning the first set and then I played better in the second set,” he added.

The Frenchman was once ranked as high as number 7 in the world but his career was plagued with injuries and now his ranking is tottering in the late 40’s.

Playing in last week’s Qatar Open, Gasquet had to withdraw from the second round due to back pain.

“It’s been a difficult start to the year and I need confidence and to feel better on court and happy. I couldn’t play in Australia. It’s been very difficult for me and I’m trying my best to recover and when I am fit I think I can play very well but at the moment, I need to work on it,” he said.

The two time semi-finalist in Dubai will next face 13th seed Hubert Hurkacz.

“I hope I can be better tomorrow, running well and feel more confident with my body. It’s the most important thing for me right now and I can play well after that. For me the most important thing is to try and feel healthy and be fit and try and win tomorrow.”

Jeremy Chardy recovered from a set down to stun ninth seed Alex de Minaur 2-6 6-3 6-4 and reach the third round of the tournament.

After losing the first set, the world No.53 bounced back to win the next two sets against the 23-ranked Australian.

“I tried to win my service game and I grew in confidence little by little and I started to feel good and made a lot of winners. So, it helped me a lot to win this match,” said Chardy.

Lloyd Harris earned a second round clash with top seed Dominic Thiem after defeating qualifier Christopher O’Connell 6-7(5) 6-4 6-1 while Jan-Lennard Struff brushed aside qualifier Mikhail Kukushkin 6-3 6-2 to set up a clash against third seed Denis Shapovalov.

Meanwhile, India’s Yuki Bhambri faltered against Slovenia’s Aljaz Bedene as he lost 6-3, 1-6, 4-6. Bhambri made a perfect start as he held his nerves to take the first set away from world No. 59.

The Slovenian made a strong comeback in the second. Bhambri, who has been out of competitive action since 2018 due to wrist and knee injuries and made a return to the court in February, tried his best in the decider but to no avail.

“He came back better, made a lot of balls, put me on the backfoot. The second set was crucial, he gained confidence from there. I had my chances in the eighth game (of the third set), you have to take your chances when you get them at this level, or any level,” said Bhambri.