David Goffin of Belgium will take on France’s Richard Gasquet, in the quarter-final of the 2022 European Open on Friday, October 21.
2022 ATP Tour
ATP 250 Series
European Open
Antwerp, Belgium (Indoor Hardcourts)
Selected Quarterfinals- 21st October
Richard Gasquet (6/4) vs David Goffin (1/2)
This should prove a fascinating battle between two accomplished players who perhaps never had the firepower to reach the very top of the game.
Furthermore, it pits one of the best single-handed backhands (Gasquet) against one of the best double-handed backhands (Goffin). 36-year-old Frenchman Richard Gasquet has quietly accumulated a very decent record this season. His victory over Stricker took his year-to-date record to 24-17. Granted, he hasn’t consistently gone deep in events.
But this is the 6th time this year he will have reached the quarterfinal stage or better. Gasquet is renowned for his indoor hardcourt abilities: he has won six ATP titles on indoor hardcourts in his career. More importantly, he was the man who won the inaugural staging of this event back in 2016.
He reached the semi-finals once again in 2018 but has failed to progress beyond the first-round since. But an epic first-round triumph over Stan Wawrinksa seems to have injected some self-belief into the veteran Frenchman.
2022 has proven to be another up-and-down season for David Goffin. The hometown hero did win a title earlier this year at the Grand Prix Hassan II.
He would then go on a fairly remarkable quarterfinal journey at the Wimbledon Championships. But his year-to-date record of 25-24 tells you that things have not been trending upward for the energetic Belgian. In fact, he barely scrapped past World No.1171 Gilles Arnaud Bailly in the first-round.
He was broken five times in a marathon match that almost ended in embarrassment. But the experienced Goffin bounced back in grand style, easily swatting away 3rd see Diego Schwartzman in straight-sets. He really turned up the aggression against Schwartzman, reigning down 35 winners on his beleaguered opponent.
He incredibly won 83% of his 2nd-serve points (more than on his first delivery). That’s a unique stat that seems to suggest that Goffin isn’t just putting it in there this week.
Verdict: Goffin to win in straight-sets at 13/10- Goffin leads the head-to-head rivalry 3-1. Having said that, Gasquet won their one and only indoor hardcourt match in 2018. I just think that Goffin looked too good against Schwartzman to ignore.
He was more positive than usual and seemed to have the ball on a string. Gasquet has also physically struggled this year to go beyond this stage (reaching just one semi-final in five quarterfinal appearances thus far).
Felix Auger Aliassime (2) (4/11) vs Dan Evans (5) (2/1)
This has been a really intriguing year for 22-year-old Felix Auger Aliassime. He hasn’t really appeared on the Grand Slam radar since his heart-breaking quarterfinal defeat to Medvedev in Melbourne. Long considered a potential World No.1, Aliassime had started to develop a flaky reputation after losing his first eight ATP finals.
But he seems to have exorcised those demons this year, winning his maiden title in Rotterdam before claiming his 2nd title last week in Florence. He also reached another final in Marseille. All three of this year’s finals have come on indoor hardcourts.
In fact, his record for the year on this surface is an exceptional 15-4. He currently holds an overall record of 44-24 and he just obliterated Guinard in his opening match here. He will go into this match as a worthy favourite.
Dan Evans comes into this match with a bit of a point to prove. The British No.2 has been left apoplectic after being omitted from consideration for the British Davis Cup double’s side.
He has reportedly threatened to quit the event altogether. And some of that rage seems to have filtered into his tennis this week. He thrashed both Tallon Griekspoor and Constant Lestienne in commanding straight-sets victories.
The mercurial Evans hasn’t been in the greatest form coming into this event (he was 4-4 in his last eight matches leading into this event). But he has picked up some decent results this season.
He reached the semi-finals in San Diego just last month and also reached his 2nd Masters 1000 semi-final in Montreal. Talent has never been the question with Evans. It’s his temperament.
He just too often gets in his own way emotionally. But perhaps he could use this whole Davis Cup furore to motivate himself to yet another semi-final.
Verdict: Evans to win in three at 4/1- This will be the 3rd meeting between these two.
Evans won at the Melbourne 2 event last year while Aliassime demolished Evans at this year’s Aussie Open. The Canadian obviously has an advantage in terms of raw power. But Evans is a dogged competitor who will look to counterpunch and frustrate the Canadian.
I really think Evans has a chance of staging a huge upset here. Aliassime may be feeling a bit lethargic after his adventures in Florence last week.
I also think Evans will desperately want to give British Davis Cup organizers the proverbial middle finger with victory here.
