Australian Open | Adrian Mannarino ejects Ben Shelton and joins Novak Djokovic in the round of 16

What a match, what a fight, what a clash of styles and what a treat! Trailing two sets to one, Adrian Mannarino ended up overthrowing Ben Shelton at the end of the suspense for a victory in 4h46 (7-6(4), 1-6, 6-7(2), 6-3, 6-4) which constitutes his third in this Australian Open, of which he will play in the round of 16 as in 2022. It will be against Novak Djokovic for a prestigious duel which will represent a completely different challenge, and a completely different adventure.

Obviously, there are things more comfortable than approaching a meeting in front of the owner with 15 sets and almost 12 hours of tennis under your belt. But quite frankly, now is not the time to think about it. Adrian Mannarino has every right, initially, to savor as he should this victory that lives up to the little legend that he is definitely building for himself, at 35 years old. A victory which represents a new feat of arms for French tennis in this decidedly quite crazy Australian Open the day after that, in another style, of Arthur Cazaux against Holger Rune.

Val d’Oisien not only won (perhaps) the best match of this Australian Open so far, but perhaps also signed the best success of his long career. And we must of course associate Ben Shelton, superb in bravery and resistance, with his performance. For almost 5 hours, the two men engaged in a magnificent duel, punctuated by “hot shots” as varied as they were spectacular, in a pure opposition of styles which necessarily reinforced its appeal.

Led two sets to one as he had been in the first round by Stan Wawrinka, we believed that “Manna” was going to have to give up, as he had seemed in difficulty physically from the second set. Above all, he seemed to have missed his chance by serving in vain to win the 3rd set (at 5-4). The moment chosen by Shelton, it is true, to release a stratospheric game synonymous with a break, before signing a top-notch tie break. The American, a surprise quarter-finalist last year, seemed ready…

Except that the Frenchman, decidedly indestructible, ultimately still had some under the hood. After saving a precious break point at the start of the 4th set, he managed to get back on track and it was Shelton, this time, who took a nosedive. A break acquired in the middle of this 4th set and the 5th, from then on, became inevitable. One more in this record-breaking Australian Open. One more for Adrian Mannarino.

But this “five setter” was of a different caliber than his previous two against Wawrinka and (especially) Jaume Munar. Mannarino was at his best level, or not far off, and his young rival (21 years old) returned blow for blow, notably in a final round which perhaps constituted the high point of this match between two adversaries with only one point common to be left-handed.

By the way, if they did indeed propose the expected opposition of styles, it was also by forcing their nature a little. Often countered by the extraordinary quality of the Frenchman’s return (18 aces is not enormous for him over such a duration), Shelton on the other hand kept up the pace from the baseline, where he displayed a beautiful little tactical science, with an alternation of short slices and (obviously) well-felt caramels, particularly in return, on the forehand side. Mannarino regularly went to the net (48 times, for 33 points scored), even if it meant producing more mistakes than usual.

In short, the tactical combat raged as well as the physical combat. And in this little game, it was the veteran (35 years old who had the last word). After missing 6 break points in total in his first three return games, he finally made it happen in the 7th (2-3), for a break that he immediately capitalized on (2-5). There, the carrots seemed well cooked for the Georgian who, refusing to give in, nevertheless experienced a superb start to return to 5-4, 0-15. Perhaps caught up in his youth, he then committed a succession of mistakes which did Mannarino a world of good.

After a double fault on his first match point, the Frenchman finally concluded on the second by taking advantage of a final backhand fault, and was able to let his joy burst forth. We definitely can’t beat Adrian Mannarino in five sets, since he hasn’t lost in this format since a duel against Andy Murray at the 2015 US Open (11 wins in a row since, except for his retirement against Roger Federer at Wimbledon in 2021, occurring at the very start of the 5th).

This is also the fifth time in his career that he has reached the round of 16 of a Grand Slam – the second in Melbourne, therefore -, a milestone he has never reached before. And after Rafael Nadal in 2022 there will be another monster, Novak Djokovic, on his way. Okay, it will be complicated. But with “Manna”, we definitely no longer swear by anything.