Cincinnati (USA) (AFP)
The French Adrian Mannarino, 59th player in the world, and Lucas Pouille (31st) qualified for the second round of the Cincinnati 1000 Masters, beating Chilean Cristian Garin (32) 6-4, 6-1, and Denis Kudla (111e) 6-3, 7-6 (8/6), Monday.
Mannarino, 31, winner this year on s-Hertogenbosh turf in the Netherlands, will next face Kazakhstan's Mikhail Kukushkin, 46th player in the world and "lucky loser" who has replaced Spain's Rafael in the table. Nadal, lost after winning the Masters 1000 Montreal on Sunday.
Adrian Mannarino, the 8th runner-up in Montreal last week, had a great performance against Garin, winner this year in Munich and Houston and finalist in Saõ Paulo. But thanks to good service -5 aces and 76% points scored on his first balls - the French, also performing in return, concluded his first match point after only 70 minutes of exchanges.
For his part, Apulia, already winner of five titles in his career, the last in Montpellier in 2018, will have for opponent is the Italian Fabio Fognini, 10th in the world and scorer of Mannarino in Montreal, or the Canadian Denis Shapovalov (34th).
After a smooth first set, 25-year-old Pouille managed the first break in the fifth game to lead 3-2, before yielding his own face-off. At 5-4, he was serving for the match. , but after an interminable game with several ties and break points, the Frenchman gave his throw on a double fault. Everything remained to be done.
In the decisive game, Kudla led 2-0, 5-3, 6-4 but failed to materialize, and it was finally Puglia who concluded on his throw-in after 1h39 minutes of play.
They have, in any case, shown the way to follow their compatriots who will enter the running on Monday: Pierre-Hugues Herbert, against the American Sam Querrey, Gilles Simon, opposed to the Spaniard Pablo Carreño, and especially Richard Gasquet who has the immense honor of facing the Scot Andy Murray, former World N.1, back to singles after seven months of absence and surgery at the hip.
© 2019 AFP