Bernard Tomic again found Richard Gasquet too strong, falling to 2-7 in their head-to-head series after going down to the Frenchman in the second round at Halle.
Halle, Germany, 21 June 2017 | AAP
Buoyed by Tuesday’s excellent win over wily German Tommy Haas, the Queenslander was looking to build on that victory ahead of Wimbledon, starting on 3 July.
However, he made a less-than-ideal start as the world No.30 broke his serve in the opening game and again in the 10th to seize the early initiative.
The second set followed a similar pattern, as Tomic struggled to overcome the Frenchman’s excellent returning game and was soon down 0-3.
Despite recovering one of the breaks and levelling the set at 3-3, Tomic was broken again in the penultimate game of the match.
Gasquet served out the win and will next face either No.2 seed Dominic Thiem or Dutchman Robin Haase.