Richard Gasquet gets little time to rest before facing Andy Murray in Paris

Richard Gasquet has had a singular few days. The Frenchman won his first ATP Tour title in 30 months on Saturday, arrived at his hotel room here at 11.30pm, practised for 35 minutes yesterday, had treatment on his left knee and this afternoon will labour under the burden of local hero in resurrection mode. Andy Murray ought to be rubbing his hands.

This humdinger of a first-round match at the French Open pits the British No 1 against Gasquet, who played with such ardour in the Open de Nice Côte d’Azur to defeat Fernando Verdasco, of Spain.

Such was the extent of Gasquet’s resistance that Verdasco lost the plot in the final set, waving his arms at the crowd in the manner of an on-course bookmaker. That is not a course of action to be recommended to Murray today. If there is any more edge required to an edge-of-the-seat occasion, it has been provided by the intransigence of the French federation (FFT) and the LTA........ read more