A character as discreet as he is atypical, Adrian Mannarino hates knowing the name of his future adversary. But the 33-year-old Frenchman will have a hard time not knowing that he will face a certain Rafael Nadal on Sunday in the round of 16 of the Australian Open, for his first at this stage in Melbourne.
Double tweener for this point of madness won by Adrian Mannarino against Karatsev!
Go on @AdrianMannarino ! 💪#AusOpen #AO2022 pic.twitter.com/rQyL9cM89k
— FFT (@FFTennis) January 21, 2022
This Friday, the 69th in the world emerged victorious from a huge fight against Aslan Karatsev, 15th. The score: 7-6 (4), 6-7 (4), 7-5, 6-4 for a 4:40 game, which ended at 2:30 am local time. Before this victory against the Russian, semi-finalist in 2021, the left-hander from Ile-de-France had dominated the Pole Hubert Hurkacz (11th in the world) in three sets.
He joins Monfils in 8th… while waiting for Paire?
There will therefore be at least two tricolor representatives in the 8th, with Gaël Monfils, who will have a task a priori easier than Mannarino on Sunday against the Serb Miomir Kecmanovic (77th in the world).
Benoît Paire will try to join his compatriots on Saturday. But for that it will be necessary to pass on the large carcass of the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, the fourth in the world.