Richard Gasquet is one of two Frenchmen remaining in the Montpellier draw and he has decent chance of reaching the semifinals with Mikael Ymer across the net on Friday. Roberto Bautista Agut and Alexander Bublik are also in action.
(6) Alexander Bublik vs. (2) Roberto Bautista Agut
Bautista Agut and Bublik will be going head-to-head for the third time in their careers when they clash in the quarterfinals of the Open Sud de France on Friday. They have split their two previous encounters; Bublik prevailed 6-2, 7-5 on the indoor hard courts of Moscow in 2016 before Bautista Agut got the job done 6-4, 6-3 right around this time last year in Doha.
Bublik has battled through two tough matches so far this week. The 35th-ranked Kazakh held off Tallon Griekspoor in a pair of tiebreakers and then beat Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-3, 6-7(2), 6-2. Bautista Agut, on the other hand, has barely broken a sweat in Montpellier. The 19th-ranked Spaniard followed up a first-round bye with a second-set retirement from Gilles Simon on Wednesday (Bautista Agut was leading 6-4, 3-2 at the time). Unless Bublik has an other-worldly day on serve (of which he hasn’t had many in recent months), the second seed should be too solid from the back of the court.
Pick: Bautista Agut in 2
Mikael Ymer vs. Richard Gasquet
Gael Monfils was thought to be France’s primary hope this week, but only Gasquet and Adrian Mannarino remain (and Mannarino has to go up against No. 1 seed Alexander Zverev on Friday. Gasquet is through to the last eight thanks to victories over Ugo Humbert and Soonwoo Kwon. The 35-year-old also took down Humbert at the Australian Open before retiring in the second round against Botic Van de Zandschulp.
Up next for Gasquet on Friday is second-ever contest against Ymer, and it marks their second meeting on an indoor hard court in France. They previously faced each other at the 2020 Marseille event, where Ymer won 6-3, 3-6, 7-5. At 23 years old, the Swede is entering the prime of his career and that is clear from recent results. He won 18 main-tour matches last season–including a final in Winston-Salem–and kicked off this one with a quarterfinal performance in Adelaide. Ymer finds himself in another quarterfinal in Montpellier following straight-set defeats of Corentin Moutet and Gael Monfils. Another French scalp should be in the cards, as the world No. 83 is in fine form and Gasquet can’t be relied upon to string together three solid performances in a row under any circumstances.
Pick: Ymer in 3
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