ATP Tour

Mannarino upsets Rublev, maintains impressive Almaty record

Adrian Mannarino maintained his impressive record at the Almaty Open on Wednesday, when he upset fourth seed Andrey Rublev to reach the quarter-finals at the ATP 250 event for the fourth time.

The Frenchman Mannarino has earned a tournament-record 13 wins, highlighted by his title run in 2023 and final showing in 2020, when the event was held in Astana. In an impressive display against Rublev, Mannarino moved the 29-year-old around with his clean timing and held his nerve when serving out the match, sealing victory on his third match point at the indoor hard-court event.

“I know Andrey really well, we have played many times,” said Mannarino, who improved to 2-4 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series. “I know if I was to play my normal level, I would lose this match. He is a better player than me, so if I wanted to win I had to play a little bit better than usual and I think I played a good match today. I am happy to get through.”

Mannarino is into his 66th tour-level quarter-final and fourth in 2026. The 38-year-old has performed well on indoor hard courts this year, with his best result coming in those conditions in Montpellier, where he reached the final. The Frenchman will next play Nikoloz Basilashvili, who beat Facundo Diaz Acosta 6-2, 6-4.

Rublev enjoyed a run to the title match in Hangzhou last month but has now lost his past three matches, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index.

Earlier, James Duckworth earned his first Top-30 win of the year when he overcame World No. 23 and second seed Luciano Darderi 7-5, 7-6(7) to reach the quarter-finals. The Australian, a semi-finalist this season in Winston-Salem, saved one set point in the second-set tie-break and will next meet seventh seed Stefanos Tsitsipas or Mikhail Kukushkin, who is playing in his last ATP Tour event of his career.

Tomas Machac wasted little time in advancing to the second round, beating 18-year-old Kazakhstan wild card Zangar Nurlanuly 6-2, 6-0. Mattia Bellucci also reached the same stage, downing Tomas Martin Etcheverry 7-6(5), 2-6, 6-4 in two hours and 32 minutes.