Gasquet beats Mathieu to retain Montpellier title
PARIS (Reuters) - Richard Gasquet won a 13th career singles title by beating fellow Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu 7-5 6-4 in the Open Sud de France final in Montpellier on Sunday.
The top seeded world number 10 appeared to be suffering from abdominal pains and went 3-0 down in the opening set before prevailing.
He wrapped up with his first match point when Mathieu sent a backhand just long.
"(Mathieu) hit the ball hard, at the beginning I could not compete but then I served much better," said Gasquet, now a four times winner in Montpellier after titles in 2006, 13 and 15.
(Reporting by Julien Pretot, editing by Alan Baldwin)