Adrian Mannarino stuns Kevin Anderson in the opening round – Heineken Open 2012
French qualifier, Adrian Mannarino, shocked the fifth seed, Kevin Anderson, in straight sets at the Heineken Open 2012 on Tuesday. He manipulated a 6-3, 6-3 victory over the South African number one to advance into the second
round of this build-up tournament leading to the first Grand Slam event, the Australian Open.
Ranked 87th in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Mannarino, avenged his loss at the semi-finals in Johannesburg last year after outmuscling Anderson at the ASB Tennis Centre. He not
only secured a round of 16 spot but also levelled the head-to-head series by 1-1 against the South African.
Soizy-born Mannarino confidently entered the opening set and quickly pocketed entire serves without facing any breakpoint. He converted two out of three break opportunities to his advantage and sealed the opener with a 6-3
success. The French also produced a much better first serve share and registered a spectacular 88 percent win on it.
Cracking the top-50 in July 2011, Mannarino carried his winning ways in the second set and plucked in entire serves without facing any hindrance. Later, he clinched the set with a single break of serve, earning a 6-3 score
line again. The 23-year-old manifested a better first serve share in this set as well and earned a mind-blowing 93 percent win on it.
Next challenge for the high spirited qualifier is the Spaniard, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, who hit back at the Russian Igor Kunitsyn to reach this spot. He bounced from a set down to formulate a 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory over the
Russian in almost two hours.
Eighth seed Philipp Kohlschreiber had a better luck at the Auckland ATP event. He battled past Swiss Stephane Bohli in a three set thriller to secure a second round spot. The German fired 13 aces and required one hour and
51 minutes to overwhelm Bohli’s resilience in their first meeting.
World number 42, Kohlschreiber failed to fend off the only breakpoint faced in the opening set but cased half of the four break chances to bag the opener with a 6-4 win.
Bohli, ranked 218th in the ATP rankings, stepped up his game in the second set and after converting one out of three break chances to his advantage, he grabbed the equaliser with a 6-4 score line.
The higher ranked German re-focused again in the final set regardless of saving the only breakpoint he encountered, Kohlschreiber capitalised on both break opportunities and clinched the decider at 6-4.
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