Without losing a set, Richard reached the forth round of the US Open by defeating Kevin Anderson 6-4 7-6 7-5.
The first set was not spectacular: Anderson committed errors left and right and Richard was solid enough to keep the break he had achieved in the fifth game. Things continued in a similar vain, when Richard broke Anderson for 2-0 in the second set. But the South African managed to explore a small weakness from Richard to come back to 4 all. Weirdly, enough Richard started playing better after his and crowned his performance with a fantastic tiebreak in which he hit two aces, a return winner and a back hand pass.
In the third set, everything looked favourable for Richard when he had three breakpoints in Anderson's first service game, but he could not convert them. In the 9th game it got even worse, as Anderson managed a break to go 5-4 up. But it seems as if this threat was needed to inspire Richard. He broke back immediately, hold serve comfortably and played a brilliant game to seal victory 6-4 7-6 7-5.
His next opponent is his compatriot Gael Monfils. Their H/H is tied at 2-2.
