Richard won his second round match in Sydney against the German Benjamin Becker 6-2 7-6 (4). His next opponent is Potito Starace. Their H/H is 1-1, both meetings date back to 2004.
Richard stormed through the first set 6-2 in 30 minutes. He lost the plot and his serve at the start of the second set and was 0-3 down very quickly. He recoverd and had breakpoints in a long game at 1-4, but finally secured the rebreak in the 7th game. He always looked to have the upper hand from then on, but only the tiebreak proved this in numbers.
Richard won it 7-4 with a vintage backhand on his second match point.
