Richard Gasquet suffered a first round exit in Marseille at the hands of fellow Frenchman, Arnaud Clement 3-6, 6-4, 6-0.

An error strewn Gasquet failed to find his form from the Davis Cup weekend as he succumbed to defeat.

Richard had a bright start to the match, capitalising on the only break point of the first set to taken a one set to love lead.

Richard dug himself out of trouble in the second set as he faced break point at 4-3. A superb drop shot and an ace levelled the set at 4-4. Richard was not so lucky in his next service game though, as Clement clinched the break and thus the set, 6-4.

The first game of the third set proved to be crucial. Failing to capitalise on a 0-40 advantage, Richard and Clement then exchanged some serious tennis. Richard worked hard with two splendid forehands for one more break point in the game, but Clement hung on to take a 1-0 lead.

Spurred on by the previous game's battle, Clement immediately broke Gasquet, as the younger Frencham failed to execute a drop shot. Errors began creeping into Richard's game and he went down a second break 4-0.

The crowd tried to raise their number one French player with loud chants, but despite fighting hard in the last two games, Richard could not suppress the onslaught from Clement who sealed the match 6-0.

The two French stars embraced warmly at the net, and despite his disappointment, Richard spared a few moments to sign autographs for the French fans who had shown him much support.

After the match, Richard commented, "I tried to finish it off in the second set. I did my best but just ran out of juice in the end. I had nothing more to give. I'm extremely tired after the Davis Cup, both mentally and physically. It was tough to play against a friend, especially after being all together as part of a team over the weekend in the Davis Cup."

"I went too far in the Davis Cup to do something here," the 19-year-old said.