Richard defeated Denis Istomin 6-4 6-2 to reach the final in Eastbourne where he lost to Feliciano Lopez 3-6 7-6 5-7.
After his convincing semi-final, it took Richard a set to get used to the Spaniard's serve. He lost the first set without making any inroads into Lopez' game. Things improved considerably in the second set, when Richard was able to break Lopez in the 7th game.Rebroken straight away, the set went to a breaker which Richard won 7-5. At that moment Lopez was a bit in a hole and Richard might regret not having taken his chances to break in Lopez' first service game. Throughout the set, one felt that Richard had the upper hand, but two errors in the 11th game cost him the match.
His next tournament is Wimbledon, where he will play James Duckworth in the first round.
