Watch out for Mannarino?

Will Michelsen meet the same fate as his "buddy", Learner Tien?

Well, Adrian managed to completely dispatch of Tien, as a huge underdog! Mannarino tends to do very well against other lefties, and he was able to completely win the tactical battle against someone who usually does well in that area (Tien). One of Learner's strengths is his ability to control matches with his tennis IQ and rally tolerance, but it was all completely taken away from him by the grizzled veteran. Now, this was Tien's first meeting with Mannarino, and that's usually quite an advantage for Mannarino, since players need time to adapt to the way he plays. Additionally, Tien lacks the weapons to penetrate Mannarino's defense, so he really had no answers. Michelsen has already faced Mannarino three times and beaten him twice. Also, his game is quite well-suited to face the Frenchman! He gets a lot more free points off his serve and can return more aggressively to not give Mannarino a chance to start in a good position over and over. And yes, of course, his backhand is very good in every way... both crosscourt and pulling the trigger down the line. Alex is also very good at doing sudden injections of pace, followed up with a net approach, where he is very comfortable.

However, despite a straight-sets win against McDonald, he had a few dips that a better opponent could have punished. I will keep in mind that it was his first match after a short turnaround from a Challenger final. I was also really impressed by Mannarino, who only dropped 10 points on serve in the entire match against Tien. We would have preferred a lower bounce on these courts for the Frenchman, and as you can tell, this is not an easy matchup. However, we know he can catch a bit of fire when he gets going. Will the odds be enough for us to take a chance on his side?