Richard defeated Albert Montanes 7-6 (5) 6-4 to play Yuri Schukin from Kazakhstan in the semifinal of Gstaad.
The first set was not great from both players, Richard could not keep his early break and missed other occasions to get the upper hand. His backhand was not firing and some of the serve/volley attempts went wrong, too.In the end, it was a backhand pass, though, which set up set point at 5 all in the breaker. After Richard had secured the first set, he started to play better, while Montanes could not raise his game. Richard broke in the fifth game and managed to hold his advantage to win 7-6 6-4.