Adrian Mannarino overthrows Dominic Thiem in Indian Wells
He screamed his rage in a rather rare demonstrative celebration at home. But Adrian Mannarino went through too many different states against Dominic Thiem not to savor his victory after the decisive game of the third set. First roughed up and led by a set, a break, the Frenchman knew how to do violence to himself to return to a set everywhere before managing to control his nerves more than his opponent of the day at the very end of the match (4-6, 6-4, 7-6 [5]). He’s in the second round of Indian Wells.
When Mannarino bounced his racquet in frustration just before giving up the break early in the second half, things seemed to be off to a bad start for him. But the Frenchman had in front of him an equally nervous player, lacking in confidence and victories. At 4-2, serve to follow, the Austrian lost his balance in his game and made big mistakes that allowed Mannarino to chain the points.
A second round against Musetti
Nicolas Massu, Thiem’s coach, may have deployed all the energy he could in the stands, the Frenchman scored four games in a row to pick up the score. He even made the first break in the deciding set. But it was he, again, who got tense and the two men finally separated in the tie-break. The French first suffered the debates, on two reverses along the opposing line, but he recovered at 5-5 on a decisive serve and volley.
Thiem gave up the next two points on two forehand errors, the shot missing from his panoply of former Grand Slam winners since returning from injury. While Richard Gasquet will face Jannik Sinner, Mannarino will face another Italian from the young guard, Lorenzo Musetti. In both cases, the duel will be a first.
