Analysis for Ferrer-Gasquet (ATP Australian Open)

Head-to-head record 5:1

David Ferrer will play Richard Gasquet in round 16 and French player is a slight favourite for us. Gasquet plays in a great form here in Melbourne and should be confident enough. He has already defeated Seppi, Golubev and Tipsarevic and performed well in all the matches he played. He is one of the biggest talents of the world of tennis but has never fulfilled his potential. He is praised for his powerful and precise one-handed backhand and for his flair and shot-making ability. As we said, he has earned much praise for his "natural talent." He is however getting more consistent and we expect another difficulties for Ferrer today. Ferrer is one of the best baseliners nowadays. His playing style is best tailored for clay courts, with a strong two-handed backhand, well-angled topspin strokes, incredibly fast mobility on the court, and a preference to play from the deep court. His serve is probably his weakest point but he is extremely athletic, and tends to go after every shot, even apparent winners from his opponents. He is considered to be the best returner on the tour and his recent run is just admirable. He already won in Auckland this year but he is not that impressive. He lost 2 sets to Sweeting and added 2 straight sets wins over weak Machado and Chela. In Auckland, he won the tournament but played several tight matches against the average opponents and he hasn’t showed anything that would make him such a big favourite here. Anything above 2.5 is worth taking.