SINGAPORE, February 25, 2021
Top seed Adrian Mannarino from France opened his Singapore Tennis Open campaign against Italian Roberto Marcora, who knocked out former Top 10 player Ernests Gulbis of Latvia in the first round, with a 6-3, 7-5 win.
Mannarino and the Italian remained evenly matched in the early stages, and exchanged twelve deuces by the fifth game of the first set. The World No. 35 eventually broke Marcora’s serve to lead 4-2, and broke again at 5-3 to win the opening set 6-4. The second set was a closer affair with Mannarino holding on to the crucial seventh game and his serve after an extended deuce exchange to lead 4-3. The deadlock was finally broken in the twelfth game of the second set with Mannarino breaking Marcora’s serve for the third time, securing the first seed’s path into the quarterfinals in Singapore after one hour and 53 minutes.
“At this stage there is no easy match. I never played against him (Marcora) before, but I knew he had a couple of good games before,” said Mannarino. “In the second set he got used to the pace and was winning good points in the big moments and it looked like it could go either way but I’m pretty happy that I managed to keep my focus and win the second set.”
The 32-year-old will next take on Radu Albot from Moldova, who fought past Yannick Hanfmann of Germany 6-7(2), 7-6(7), 6-3. Albot failed to convert four set points, eventually succumbing in a tie-break to Hanfmann in the first set. However, the second set proved pivotal as Albot saved three match points to level the score at a set a piece after another tie-break in the second set. Hanfmann got off to a rapid start in the third and raced to a 3-1 lead, but Albot stormed back, winning four games in a row to lead 5-3. Five match points and four deuces later, the No. 6 seed prevailed after two hours and 42 minutes.
Shot of the week and an early contender for shot of the year?
🤩 @RaduAlbot #SingaporeTennisOpen pic.twitter.com/RacJ5R6bgE
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) February 25, 2021
Ebden knocks out Millman
Matthew Ebden produced the upset of the day by defeating fellow Australian and second seed John Millman 6-4, 6-1. The World No. 316 stayed solid on his service games and denied Millman any chance of breaking serve throughout the match. Ebden’s returns outclassed his opponent’s as well, winning 34 per cent of first service-points and converting 67 per cent of all break points. The wirld card entry is through to the quarterfinals and will face another countryman and #NextGen ATP Alexei Popryin.
“I knew to expect a tough match, John has had a very good last few years. I knew I had to play well. We played before even in juniors and in different competitions in the past so I knew what to expect and I am glad I executed a really good game plan and followed up from a good match yesterday,” said Ebden.
“I played a really good match in terms of putting it on my racket and pulling a lot of the points in my favour. And I executed that really well so it was a good two sets.”
The final match of the day featured an Asian showdown with Soonwoo Kwon from South Korea beating Japan’s Yasutaka Uchiyama. The South Korean fended off any chances of a comeback from Uchiyama winning decisively in straight sets 6-3, 6-4. Kwon’s win sets him up against third seed Marin Cilic of Croatia in the stage of the final eight.
Full list of Results from Day 4 of the Singapore Tennis Open
Men’s Singles – Second Round
[1] A. Mannarino (FRA) d R. Marcora (ITA) 63 75
[WC] M. Ebden (AUS) d [2] J. Millman (AUS) 64 61
[6] R. Albot (MDA) d Y. Hanfmann (GER) 67(2) 76(7) 63
[8] S. Kwon (KOR) d Y. Uchiyama (JPN) 63 64
Men’s Doubles – Quarterfinals
[1] S. Gille (BEL) / J. Vliegen (BEL) d P. Raja (IND) / R. Ramanathan (IND) 64 76(3)
[3] L. Bambridge (GBR) / D. Inglot (GBR) d [WC] J. Cerretani (USA) / A. Shamasdin (CAN) 76(4) 76(1)
L. Martinez (VEN) / D. Vega Hernandez (ESP) d N. Balaji (IND) / L. Margaroli (SUI) 64 26 12-10
