Mannarino stuns Monfils to earn fourth-round spot
TWO days after bumping into a ball boy and earning himself a £7,000 fine, Adrian Mannarino barged by fellow Frenchman Gael Monfils and into the fourth round.
Mannarino was penalised a point by the umpire on Thursday during his secondround match against Yuichi Sugita after he walked into a ball boy at a changeover.
But he shrugged off the harsh fine yesterday to record an excellent 7-6, 4-6, 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 win against the No15 seed.
Monfils is an intriguing character and it is never easy to predict what kind of tennis he will bring to the court. He has huge reserves of power but prefers to play a more cat-and-mouse game, which allowed Mannarino the space and time to work his way into the match.
He faces Novak Djokovic tomorrow, although it is difficult to see the Frenchman causing the No2 seed too much trouble.
Elsewhere yesterday, last year’s finalist Milos Raonic blasted his way through Spanish clay-court specialist Albert Ramos-Vinolas 7-6, 64, 7-5 to reach the fourth round.
It was an ominous display from the No6 seed, as the 6 foot 5 inch Canadian sent down 55 winners, among them 21 aces.
‘I did a lot of things well today,’ said the 26-year-old after the match. ‘I was efficient on my serve, created a bunch of opportunities.
‘I started getting better and better. Maybe at the beginning I wasn’t controlling the situation enough. But as the match went on, I felt like I was dictating more so from the baseline. He was coming up with some good serves in the important moments.’
Tomas Berdych is also through to the second week after a routine 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 victory against 35-year-old veteran Spaniard David Ferrer.