Richard defeated Michael Llodra in the first round of Cincinnati 3-6 6-1 1*0 ret.
It was a rather mediocre first set from Richard, in which he did not serve at his best and committed quite some unforced errors. Llodra took it 6-3. Obviously being in pain, Llodra had treatment on his left arm. His serve was clearly affected and the rest of the game dropped with it, while Richard played for more security, committed far less errors and stabilised himself. He won the set 6-1. Richard managed to break Llodra once more at the beginning of the third set, after which Michael was forced to retire. Richard's next opponent is the Russian Dmitrij Tursunov.
