Players Under the Microscope / Editor / 12 February 2007 /

French ace Richard Gasquet goes into the Open 13 in Marseille with a glowing tribute ringing in his ears after his Davis Cup exploits at the weekend.

The 20-year-old rugby fanatic from Beziers won both his singles matches in straight sets in the 4-1 victory over Romania in Clermont-Ferrand to book a quarter-final place against holders Russia - and French team captain Guy Forget was delighted for him.

"Our number one player won us the tie," he declared. "It was an important week for Richard. He is still young but he began playing on the main tour when he was 15 so he has experience behind him."

Forget accepts that Gasquet is still a shy young man but predicts: "He can definitely be a leader. I want him to become a leader within our team."

Now Gasquet aims to take that form and praise into the Open 13 - and hopefully with more success than this time last year.

Gasquet was a first-round loser to fellow Frenchman and eventual winner Arnaud Clement in 2006.

But Forget's vote of confidence and Gasquet's rise to World No 16 should inspire him when the young sixth seed goes into first-round action against Jan Hernych of the Czech Republic with a likely clash against Gael Monfils awaiting the winner.

Gasquet and Hernych have never met but Gasquet beat Monfils in the Australian Open in Melbourne last month on the way to the last 16.

There are obvious parallels between Gasquet and Britain's Andy Murray, the young hopes of two tennis nations.

In 2002 Gasquet, then 16, became the youngest player to break into the end-of-year top 200 and a year later he was the youngest to make the top 100.

That should have been the springboard but it has taken time for the right-hander to consolidate his position among the top players.

In contrast Murray has, in barely a year, climbed from nowhere to No 13 as he heads for San Jose this week.

Gasquet's progress was not helped in early 2005 when he was sidelined for seven weeks with chicken pox.

Nevertheless he and Rafael Nadal of Spain were the only teenagers to finish 2005 in the top 20.

And he remains there today, helped by four titles on the ATP Tour. His first came at Nottingham in 2005 and he retained his title in 2006 as well as adding tournament triumphs in Gstaad and Lyon.

Now his sights are set on success in Marseille and Forget added: "I want Richard to win tournaments and matches in the next two months so that he grows in confidence.

"He can beat all the top players but right now players like Safin and Nadal feel they are better than him. But things can happen fast. He can get more confidence."

Gasquet is trading at 8 with Betfair behind top seed Ivan Ljubicic (5.2) and Nikolay Davydenko (5.4) to lift the title in Marseille this week.

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