Gaston Gaudio has asked for a wild card into the French Open as his return to the ATP Tour gathers pace.
Former champion requests French Open wild card
Gaston Gaudio has asked for a wild card into the French Open as his return to the ATP Tour gathers pace.
The Argentinian was champion at Roland Garros in 2004 before a combination of injuries and loss of form saw him plunge down the world rankings.
After beating compatriot Diego Junqueira 6-4 3-6 6-4 in the first round of the Barcelona Open in just his third appearance of the season, Gaudio is optimistic of putting his once-glittering career back on track.
"I'd love to play in Roland Garros," said the 30-year-old, who is currently 966th in the world rankings.
"I've requested a wild card and am hoping to get it.
"This win is unbelievable, it's great to win a match at this level again.
"I'm feeling better with my game, it's been a long time since I've won (his last ATP-level victory came in the first round of Paris in 2007).
"I think I can still make progress but I'm not looking too far ahead."
Ferrer battle
Meanwhile, fourth seed David Ferrer was made to battle hard before securing his place in the third round of the Barcelona event.
The home favourite - who is looking to prevent fellow Spaniard Rafael Nadal from collecting his fifth straight title in Catalonia - needed two hours to see off the challenge of Kazakhstan's Mikhail Kukushkin 6-3 3-6 6-1.
He was joined in the last 16 by 12th seed Igor Andreev, who beat Alberto Martin 6-2 6-2 in Tuesday's only other second-round action.
The rest of the games were first-round encounters and all the seeds made progress except for the ever unpredictable Marat Safin.
The Russian former world number one, who was seeded 11th despite being a wild card entry, crashed meekly to Juan Monaco, 6-4 6-1.
Radek Stepanek, the ninth seed, wobbled before seeing off Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-4 2-6 6-4, while Swede Robin Soderling defeated Teimuraz Gabashvili 6-1 6-4.
Feliciano Lopez vanquished Jarkko Nieminen 6-2 6-1 and there were first-round victories elsewhere for Arnaud Clement, Mikhail Youzhny, Gaston Gaudio, Daniel Gimeno-Traver, Oscar Hernandez and Nicolas Lapentti.
In the the final match of the day, 13th seed Richard Gasquet bounced back from a slow start to defeat Jan Hernych of the Czech Republic 4-6 6-3 6-2.
