Richard kept his chances for London alive by taking the title in Moscow. His next scheduled tournament is Basel.
In the semis, Richard won in two sets against Ivo Karlovic 6-4 7-5. He broke the Croate giant's serve in both cases towards the end of the set. In the final, Richard lost the first set against a very well playing Mikhael Kukushin 4-6. When he broke for 2*-1 in the second set, the momentum switch seemed to have happened, but no. The Kazhak broke straight back, but Richard could clinch the second set when Kukushin served to stay in it.
Richard took a medical timeout in the third set, his movement was hampered and he was broken in the 7thgame. The eighth game lasted almost 15 minutes, and in the end, Richard had broken back. As in second set, Kukushin faltered when serving to stay in the match and Richard could lift the trophy after a hard fought 4-6 6-4 6-4 battle.
