ATP Tour

Mannarino cuts short Diallo’s title defence in ‘s-Hertogenbosch

Gabriel Diallo could hardly have been handed a tougher first-round draw than Adrian Mannarino to start his title defence at the Libema Open, and so it proved on Tuesday afternoon in ‘s-Hertogenbosch.

Mannarino sank last year’s winner Diallo 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 to open the Day 2 schedule in the Netherlands. Himself a champion at the grass-court ATP 250 in 2019, Mannarino holds the most victories (18) in ‘s-Hertogenbosch of any player in this year's draw, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index.

Mannarino stepped on court Tuesday having lost his past nine matches across all levels, with eight of those coming on his lesser-favoured surface of clay. The 37-year-old Frenchman was relieved to clinch a hard-earned win to snap his losing streak.

“That was tight… It could have been any player winning that match and I got a little bit lucky at the end,” Mannarino said in his on-court interview. “He made a couple of mistakes so that was good for me, but it was not easy today.”

The 24-year-old Diallo battled hard in his maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head clash with Mannarino. The Canadian twice reclaimed a break of serve early in the deciding set, but he was unable to prevent his opponent from breaking to love in the 12th game for a two-hour, 30-minute victory. Mannarino will next take on his fellow Frenchman and fourth seed Arthur Rinderknech for a quarter-final berth.

Another former Libema Open winner, home favourite Tallon Griekspoor, is in a good position to join Mannarino in the second round. The sixth seed led 6-2, 6-7(2), 2-0 in an all-Dutch meeting with Botic van de Zandschulp before rain forced play to be cancelled for the day. In the other partially completed first-round match, Hubert Hurkacz leads Marton Fucsovics 6-3, 1-2.

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Martin Damm and Zhang Zhizhen were the other early winners on Tuesday in ‘s-Hertogenbosch. Damm defeated Jaume Munar 6-4, 6.4 to book a meeting with second seed Alex de Minaur, while Zhang overcame Jenson Brooksby 7-6(4), 5-7, 6-1. The Chinese star next faces Griekspoor or Van de Zandschulp.