Stat of the Day: Richard Gasquet battles past Carreno Busta for 350th hard-court win of career

Richard Gasquet showed he’s still going very strong in Rotterdam on Monday, taking out No. 16-ranked Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta in the first round of the ATP 500 event, 2-6, 7-6 (2), 6-2.

The Frenchman was serving at 2-6, 2-4, 0-30 at one point, but dug out the second set in a tie-break then opened up a 4-0 lead in the third and held on from there, finishing the match with 34 winners to 24 unforced errors, including 13 aces to just 2 double faults.

He’s now 2-0 against Top 20 players in 2023, having beaten a No. 12-ranked Cam Norrie in the final of Auckland in January in a match where he was also down—he won the last five games in a row from 1-4 in the third set en route to a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory that day.

To put his longevity in perspective, Gasquet got the first Top 20 win of his career as a 17-year-old in 2004, beating then-No. 14 Nicolas Massu in the quarterfinals of Buenos Aires that year.

Gasquet’s victory over Carreno Busta also saw him hit a big milestone: it was the 350th hard-court win of his career.

He’s just the 15th man (and first Frenchman) in the Open Era to reach that number, and just the fifth active man to do it after Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Marin Cilic.

MOST HARD-COURT WINS IN OPEN ERA (men, tour-level):
783: Roger Federer [783-155]
667: Novak Djokovic [667-121]
592: Andre Agassi [592-158]
516: Rafael Nadal [516-149]
490: Jimmy Connors [490-100]
485: Andy Murray [485-159]
429: Pete Sampras [429-103]
426: Andy Roddick [426-138]
415: Michael Chang [415-173]
401: Tomas Berdych [401-216]
399: Ivan Lendl [399-84]
382: Stefan Edberg [382-104]
372: Lleyton Hewitt [372-158]
360: Marin Cilic [360-204]
350: Richard Gasquet [350-224]