Confident Gasquet v The Beast in ATP Nottingham Final

Posted on June 18, 2005

Riding high after his best claycourt season to-date, emerging French superstar and No. 4 seed Richard Gasquet advanced to the final at the ATP grasscourt stop in Nottingham Friday with a 6-4, 6-2 win over doughy American No. 5 seed Taylor Dent.

"I returned very well today. I think that was the key of the match, I barely missed a return," Gasquet said. "It's hard to explain when it's like that. Everything worked great today. It was the perfect match...I knew I could play well on grass but I'm just happy to get getting so many good results on it."

It was another frustrating opportunity missed for Dent, who has had difficulty getting in top condition since a bad ankle sprain in March.

"He's serving very well too and if you can do that then you win a lot of matches on grass," Dent said. "I have to swallow my pride a bit. It's disappointing but I'll have to try my hardest to get back to the where I was at the start of the year."

In the final Gasquet will attempt to slay "The Beast," Belarus' Max Mirnyi, who out-dueled giant-killer and No. 7 seed Olivier Rochus 6-4, 7-5.

"It was good to win the match but I thought I played better yesterday against Carlsen," said Mirnyi, who threw down 17 aces against the diminutive Belgian who earlier toppled Croat serving machine Ivo Karlovic. "It was very different game today and Rochus moves so well but I managed to serve very well."

Gasquet is attempting to collect his career-first ATP title, while Mirnyi is shooting for a long-overdue first grasscourt title in his first grasscourt final.

"Anything can happen in the final," Mirnyi said of his career-first meeting against Gasquet. "He's a young and aggressive player. I look forward to it."

The doubles final will be two-time 2005 title winners and top seeds Aspelin/Perry (d. (3) Oliver/Palmer in three in the semis) vs. (2) Erlich/Ram (d. Beck/Levinsky).