Richard has pulled off a sensational victory over the number five seed James Blake. Richard played some marvellous tennis to achieve victory in straight sets 6-4, 6-3.

There was an exchange of breaks early in the match, but Richard got the crucial break at 5-4. Another scintillating backhand pass, along with some errors by Blake saw the Frenchman take the first set.

Richard took an immediate break in the second set and a 2-0 lead. At 5-1, Richard played some uncommon errors in the match to get broken back. However when he served for the match a second time at 5-3, there was no mistake as a powerful forehand winner gave him victory.

Today Richard executed a wide calibre of shots. He was powerful from the baseline, but also played some tricky shots at the net. As always, his backhands were awesome, and overall he was too much for Blake.