World number three Novak Djokovic of Serbia seemed to have cold feet at
his debut Tennis Masters Cup as he lost to No. 8 Richard Gasquet of France 6-4,
6-2 for the second straight loss at the eight-man year-ending tournament in
Shanghai yesterday.
Djokovic's hopes of making semifinals from the Gold Group looked dim when the
20-year-old conceded consecutive losses to Spaniard David Ferrer and Gasquet in
the round-robin action.
The Serbian prospect, who moved from No. 16 at the beginning of January to
No. 3 this season, never found his pace in the one hour and 25 minutes match.
The 21-year-old Gasquet has become the first Frenchman to make the TMC field
and finished the year in top 10 since Sebastien Grosjean achieved that feat in
2001.
