At some stage in the first set, there must have been a point where Richard Gasquet was thinking about catching the shuttle bus to Yeerongpilly Station for a swift escape from the Brisbane International.
Up one end, Cyclone Tsonga was blowing a destructive gale. If it wasn’t a searing forehand that left scorch marks on the line to win the point, it was a mocking but deadly drop shot – the tennis equivalent of punching someone in the face five times and knocking them out with a flick to the forehead.
Up the other, Gasquet was clinging on to the net post for dear life. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga rumbled through the first set 6-1 like one of the freight trains thundering past the Tennyson stadium.
The 22-year-old Gasquet had to choose between fight or flight. He stubbornly set his mind on the latter, rising to the occasion as second seed Tsonga’s first-set hurricane fizzled into a gentle breeze.
“He’s one of the best players in the world. He can beat everybody when he’s playing like that. Everybody knows that,” Gasquet said of Tsonga’s blinding first set.
“It was difficult for me. I was losing 6-1. He was playing better than me. It was hard for me in my head. I tried to fight and it break him and it happened.”
After an all-Gallic affair at Tennyson, Gasquet will be the man waving the French flag in today’s semi-final against crafty Czech veteran Radek Stepanek, who booked his place by knocking out fourth-seeded Swede Robin Soderling yesterday.
The seventh-seeded Gasquet needed an excavator to tunnel his way out of the first-set mess against Tsonga but dig he did, eventually carrying the night with a spirited 1-6 6-4 6-2 victory in just over an hour and a half.
Few would have given him much reason for hope at the conclusion of the first set, where Australian Open finalist Tsonga looked intent on wrapping things up in time to be home for the 8.30pm movie.
Gasquet admitted he had doubts of his own. The best he could manage was to stay alive and hope the tempest would subside. He was successful on both counts.
“I had pressure at the beginning of the match because I didn’t break him. I lost my serve and it was 3-0. It was very difficult for me and I wasn’t too confident. But I tried to keep myself in the second set. I tried to fight and really concentrate on every point,” Gasquet said.
The second set was an absorbing graft, where both players struggled to sneak a telling blow through the other’s guard. It finally came in the 10th game, when Gasquet broke Tsonga to take the game into a decider.
“I broke him at 5-4 and after that the confidence was on my side. I played well in the third set. I was more powerful with my backhand and I served well,” he said.
“My game got better and better, especially with my backhand. It’s my best stroke.”
Not only did Gasquet survive, he flourished. Just as Tsonga had done in the opening stages, Gasquet dictated terms to complete an impressive win over a man rated as a strong chance to be alive when the whips are cracking at the Australian Open.
The win was sweet revenge for Gasquet, who was bundled out of the Australian Open by Tsonga in a thrilling fourth round clash last year.
He now faces the clever play of 30-year-old Stepanek, going in to today’s game wary but determined to be alive for Sunday’s final, to be played against countryman Paul-Henri Mathieu or Spaniard Fernando Verdasco.
“It’s difficult top play against him (Stepanek). He’s really talented. He can go to the net and he serves well. He’s really clever on the court and he fights a lot,” Gasquet said.
“When he’s confident he can beat everybody. I’m happy to be at this stage and I’ll try to win.”
Gasquet will be back on court this afternoon against Stepanek, while Verdasco and Mathieu will meet earlier on Pat Rafter Arena.
The men’s semi’s are a prelude to tomorrow night’s women’s singles final between France’s third seed Marion Bartoli and Belarussian second seed Victoria Averenka, who is in search of her first WTA tour title.
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