After a win against his compatriot Kenny de Schepper (6-2 6-3), Richard also defeated Nicolas Almagro 6-1 7-6 and will play Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in the semifinals.
The match against de Schepper was rather straight foward. As soon as Richard had found out that he had to move his tall opponent around as much as possible, there was only one outcome.Nicolas Almagro was of another caliber. Richard had to save four breakpoints in his first service game and showed thereby that he was ready for a fight. Showing all his variety from volleys to dropshots, Richard played an excellent first set which he won 6-1. A lapse of concentration allowed Almagro to break right at the start of the second set. But the Spaniard showed nerves when he served for the set. Richard broke him and the set went to a tiebreak in which Richard imposed himself for a 6-1 7-6 victory.
