Gasquet avoids cull to lead French charge

By Pritha Sarkar

LONDON (Reuters) - Richard Gasquet survived the cull of seeds at this year's Wimbledon to reach the fourth round with a 6-3 6-3 6-7 6-3 win over fellow Frenchman Gilles Simon on Saturday.

Following the exit of five of the top eight men's seeds, Gasquet overcame a third set blip to join Roger Federer in the second week of the grasscourt championships.

The eighth seed, who lost to Federer in the semi-finals 12 months ago, will be hoping to continue his run next week but will have to battle the crowd as well as his opponent on Monday since he will be up against Britain's 12th seed Andy Murray.

"I'm feeling great. I have no injuries. That's the most important for me. I'm ready to fight another match," said Gasquet, who missed his home grand slam at Roland Garros this year with a knee injury.

Gasquet has enjoyed a relatively easy first week at this year's championships. He dropped only nine games in his opening match against Mardy Fish and his next opponent, fellow Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean, retired hurt at the end of the second set.

"I like to play here on grass in Wimbledon," said the 22-year-old.

"I had to fight a lot today because Gilles is a great player. It was hard but it has made me ready for the second week."

While all 13 Frenchwomen who turned up at the All England Club have already departed, Gasquet was one of two Frenchmen through to the last 16.

Arnaud Clement overcame Austria's Juergen Melzer 4-6 6-3 6-4 6-4 and 14th seed Paul-Henri Mathieu could make it a French hat-trick if he dispatches Croatia's Marin Cilic later on Saturday.

Third seed Novak Djokovic, fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko, fifth seed David Ferrer, sixth seed Andy Roddick and seventh seed David Nalbandian failed to make it past the first week.

(Editing by Clare Lovell)