It would seem that Richard Gasquet ran out of steam in his five set marathon with Marat Safin. Despite a phenomenal fight back from Gasquet in the fourth set, Safin prevailed to win 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-3, 6-7(1), 6-1.
Russia take 2-0 lead: Arnaud Clement lost in four sets to Nikolay Davydenko. Next up is the doubles on Saturday.
Richard served 22 aces in this five setter, and played the break points against him very well.
One of the most dramatic games of the match, was at 4-4 in the fourth set when Gasquet saved several break points to push the Russian to a tie break. After dominating the breaker to take the match to a fifth set, Gasquet could not keep his level up, and Safin ran away with the match.
Gasquet is lined up to play singles first on Sunday, against Davydenko.