Gasquet defeated Australian qualifier Luke Saville in round one with considerable ease, winning 6-3 6-2 6-2 to make it to the second round. De Schepper also faced a qualifier from Australia, his opponent being John-Patrick Smith who was dispensed in five sets, the match going all the way as the French qualifier came from two sets down to win 4-6 4-6 7-6 6-4 6-4.

Given the results in round one, a Gasquet victory was certainly expected, with his fellow French opponent likely to struggle due to a lengthy amount of time spent on court earlier this week, especially in comparison to the short match the 21st seed played.

The gulf of class was apparent early on too, Gasquet racing into the lead as he bagelled his opponent in the first set. De Schepper put up more of a fight in the following two sets, but was comfortably dispatched in truth with the remaining two sets both finishing 6-3 against him.

Mistakes cost De Schepper in the end, with him producing four double faults and 21 unforced errors in the match, whilst Gasquet produced a combined total of 10 in these two categories.

The seeded Frenchman also got a higher percentage of his first serves in, and won more points on his first serve, De Schepper just scraping 50 per cent on the latter stat as he won 26 of 50 points on his first serve.

Gasquet will now face Bulgarian number one and 11th seed Grigor Dimitrov in round three, a man who reached the quarter-finals here last year. Dimitrov has never beaten the Frenchman, but will go into the match having been tested well already in a tough match against Steve Johnson today, with his victory in it sealing his place in the third round.