Richard Gasquet is set to defend his Red Letter Days Nottingham Open title in preparation for his assault on Wimbledon in June.

The French clay court specialist beat Max Mirnyi in straight sets last year to claim his first ever ATP title.

He became the youngest ever winner of the Nottingham tournament when he turned 19 on the day of the final.

The right-hander then went on to reach the fourth round at Wimbledon where he lost to David Nalbandian 6-4 7-6 6-0.

Gasquet will be bidding to join Sweden's Jonas Bjorkman and Britain's Greg Rusedski as the only players to have twice won the Nottingham title.

The 2002 world junior champion was one of only four players to defeat world number one Roger Federer last year, in their first ever encounter, and he also reached the fourth round at the US Open.

Nottingham tounament director Patrick Hughesman said: "Richard is currently one of the most promising and exciting players on the Indesit ATP circuit.

"The fact that he has climbed a further 31 places in the world rankings since winning in Nottingham last year speaks volumes for his world class credentials."