Adrian Mannarino qualified for the second round of the Winston Salem tournament by beating Christopher O’Connell in three sets and 3:32 of play, after saving four match points.
Eliminated from entering Cincinnati by Steve Johnson, Adrian Mannarino signed up with Winston Salem in order to garner victories and confidence before the US Open. He’s got at least one! The world No. 65 has indeed spent a round in North Carolina, disposing of the Australian Christopher O’Connell, 121st. But how complicated it was! It took him 3h32 to win in three tie-breaks, saving four match points. In this meeting between two good servers (21 aces, 56% of first serves for the Australian, 8 aces, 57% for the French), who were only broken twice, it didn’t matter much . In the first set, Mannarino missed two break points at 1-1 and eventually won 7-4 in the tiebreak. In the second, each player obtained a break point, and there, it was O’Connell who won 7-3 in the tie-break. It was therefore necessary to play a third round, and it turned out to be different from the others, since the two players finally managed to break. Mannarino was the first, taking the opposing serve at 1-1, but his opponent immediately equalized (1-1). The Frenchman broke again at 4-4 and then got two match points in a very long game. But O’Connell saved them and ended up coming back at 5-5. “Manna” then came very close to disaster, as the Australian led 6-5 0-40. But point after point, the 65th world saved the three match points, then another a little later, and equalized at 6-6. It all came down to the tie-break again, and Mannarino proved to be the strongest by winning it 7-3. He will therefore see the second round, against the Finn Emil Ruusuvuori, seeded n ° 9, whom he beat in October 2020 in Nur-Sultan.
Thiem tears away, Basilashvili no longer advances
Domi Delights Down South ?@domithiem saves 2 match points in a terrific win over Wolf 6-7 7-5 7-6, notching his first victory on a hard court in over 18 months!
Next up: Dimitrov ? #WSOpen pic.twitter.com/47DEVi5R1Z
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) August 23, 2022
Also note this Monday the victory of Dominic Thiem, who started his season on hard, as the US Open looms, which he won two years ago. The Austrian, like Mannarino, had to fight but won 6-7, 7-5, 7-6 in 3:10 against Jeffrey Wolf, saving two match points in the last tie-break. The 231st in the world will challenge the No. 1 seed, Grigor Dimitrov, whom he has not beaten on hard since February 2016. Finally, the first seed in contention in the tournament took the door. This is Nikoloz Basilashvili (n°6), who was eliminated by Thiago Monteiro (6-4, 6-1 in 1h08). The Georgian has not won since the second round of Wimbledon.
