French player Adrian Mannarino reached the round of 16 at the Australian Open by beating Aslan Karatsev 7-6(4), 6-7(4), 7-5, 6-4 in four hours and 39 minutes of game.
Duel that was going to settle the round of 16 at the top of the table. The current semifinalist came from having won the Sydney tournament last week. In the first round he had to spend a lot of time on the court to beat Munar and the Frenchman was coming off defeating No.10 seed Hubert Hurkacz in straight sets. It was the first time that the Russian and the Frenchman met in an official match.
The first two sets were very even and fought. In the first, Aslan was the only one able to have break balls. They went on to sudden death and World No.69 from 4-4 to 7-4. After the hour the first set was his. In the second, the services went to both tennis players who put the ball in play. Aslan broke for the first time in the match. It was 6-5, but the counterbreak came for Adrian to force a new tie break. On this occasion, it was Karatsev who was able to take him away in a set that was tough for him and that could have been complicated on occasion.
Several break balls appeared during the third quarter. There were four consecutive games in which the turns to the rest predominated. They went ahead and Mannarino lcon 5-5 he got the break that made him very close to the game. However, he had to save a break ball and the duel was three hours and 30 minutes long with at least one more set left.
Mannarino opened differences again. Karatsev received medical attention but continued to walk. Spectacular Adrian who had very few unforced errors. Just over 20. Despite failing to double break, Adrian managed to finish his serve at 2:33am in Melbourne. Mannarino defeated Karatsev at the Australian Open and will meet Nadal.
