Fernando Verdasco Bagels Arnaud Clement In Third-Set Victory, Keeps Hope Alive

Fernando Verdasco only won four points during five Arnaud Clement service games in the first set of Tuesday's second-round match at Paris. Everything looked grim for the Spaniard at first, but he completely turned it around, ultimately winning 3-6, 6-3, 6-0 in under two hours.

Clement converted the first set's only break point to cruise to a one set to love lead. Verdasco hit six aces in the second set after only blasting one in the first. He also began to do damage on Clement's second serve, winning 71 percent of second-serve return points. He cashed out on three of his five break chances and prevailed in a long second set.

It all came together for the No. 9 player in the world in the third set. Although he only served 42 percent, he won seven of eight points when he got his first serve in play. Also, Clement completely lost touch with his serve, making only 22 percent of his chances and also double faulting twice. Verdasco won 70 percent of the points in this set to advance to the next round in impressive fashion.

Verdasco will face Gael Monfils in the next round, a player he has never beaten. If he is able to defeat the athletic Frenchman, he may face Andy Murray in the quarterfinals. Verdasco needs to advance to the semifinals to keep his hopes for London alive, but only owns a 1-8 record against Murray.

Luckily for Verdasco, he knows how to beat the Scot when the pressure is on, as his sole win against Murray came in the 2008 Australian Open in five sets. Verdasco went on to play arguably the best match of the year in a semifinal loss to Nadal two rounds later. Verdasco will need some of the magic from that tournament if he plans to book his ticket to London.