MONTPELLIER, France — Top-seeded Richard Gasquet overcame abdominal pains to defend his Open Sud de France title with a 7-5, 6-4 win against Paul-Henri Mathieu in an all-French final on Sunday.
Dropping serve twice in the first set, Gasquet rallied from 3-0 down by breaking Mathieu's serve three times on the way to a 13th career title and third at the Montpellier event.
"I struggled to get into the match, because I was still tired from Saturday," Gasquet said, referring to his three-set win against Germany's Dustin Brown in the semifinals. "I could hardly serve and Paul was hitting the ball hard.