Gasquet battles into Monte Carlo second round

MONTE CARLO, Apr 17 (Reuters) Frenchman Richard Gasquet battled into the second round of the Monte Carlo Masters with a 7-5 6-7 7-6 victory over Fernando Verdasco today.

The 11th seed wasted five match points in the second set before ending the left-handed Spaniard's resistance in three hours 20 minutes.

Gasquet will take on Slovakia's Dominik Hrbaty, who saw off Spaniard Albert Portas 7-6 7-5.

Following a sluggish start, the French number one clinched the first set on Verdasco's serve with a trademark winning crosscourt backhand.

Gasquet was forced into a tiebreak in the second set which he lost 14-12 as Verdasco saved the five match points.

In a sloppy deciding set where there were three breaks of serve, Gasquet clinched victory 7-3 in a tiebreak.

''I ran out of gas in the second set and I have to say the Davis Cup defeat against Russia hurt me a lot,'' Gasquet said in a courtside interview.

''But it is a beautiful tournament here and I had no choice but to win this match.'' Earlier, Spaniard David Ferrer strolled into the second round with a 6-3 6-1 victory over Frenchman Gilles Simon.

The 12th seed had too much claycourt experience for Simon and wrapped up the win on his first match point in 68 minutes.

The world number 16 now meets another Frenchman, Julien Benneteau, who reached the French Open quarter-finals last year.

''I felt really good from the start, which explains why the win was wrapped up quickly,'' Ferrer said, German Benjamin Becker also booked his place for the second round with a 7-6 6-2 win over Swede Thomas Johansson to set up a meeting with either Spaniard Nicolas Almagro or Czech 14th seed Tomas Berdych who play later on Tuesday.

Eighth seeded Briton Andy Murray pulled out of his second round match against Frenchman Marc Gicquel with a back injury. Murray's place in the draw will be taken by Spanish lucky loser Guillermo Garcia Lopez.

Later today, world number one Roger Federer starts his claycourt season with a second round meeting against Italian Andreas Seppi.

REUTERS SAM RAI2039