Home favourite Richard Gasquet punished an erratic display from Canadian teenager Denis Shapovalov to progress to the second round of the Paris Masters on Monday with a 6-4 7-6(3) victory.
Shapovalov made a brisk start and raced to a 3-0 lead before Gasquet responded with a mix of aggressive backhands and clever drop shots to reel off five consecutive games.
The 19-year-old Canadian struggled to settle into a serving rhythm as he made 18 unforced errors, including five double faults, allowing Gasquet to clinch the opening set in 44 minutes.
Experience prevails.@richardgasquet1 comes out on top in this backhand battle against Shapovalov 6-4 7-6(3).#RolexParisMasters pic.twitter.com/1feixEAdP8
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) October 29, 2018
Having tightened up his game, Shapovalov roared back in the second set with a string of powerful groundstrokes but Gasquet recovered from 4-1 down to level at 4-4.
Gasquet, ranked 28th in the world, held his serve to force a tiebreak and kept his composure to prevail on the first match point.
Earlier in the day, Russian power-hitter Karen Khachanov began his campaign with a 7-5 6-2 win over last year's runner-up Filip Krajinovic.
Khachanov, who lifted the Kremlin Cup earlier this month, recovered from a 3-5 down and saved a set point to battle past his Serbian opponent in 75 minutes.