Source : the age
Mannarino looks like he is almost done but he is still trying to come up with some winners.
He went 0-40 down on his serve, then got back to 30-40, but he couldn’t find the target again.
De Minaur will serve for the match at 5-2 in the third set.
One moment, Alex de Minaur was grinding to hold on to his serve, the next minute he has the break in the third set.
Nothing can be taken from granted when it comes to serves and this particular matchup but the Demon has a two-set lead and now he has a break.
De Minaur leads 6-3, 6-2, 3-2 with Mannarino serving.
Why is “the queue” so special? It is not so rare for Princess Catherine to attend Wimbledon, given it appears to be one of her favourite events.
After her cancer diagnosis in 2024, she made the tennis her first solo public appearance.
She watched both the men’s and the women’s finals in that year and the following year, and presented the trophies to the winners.
This year, she has gone further by turning up to the opening week and greeting people in the queue – which has become an institution in Wimbledon Park for the way it allows visitors to have a chance of catching a match.
Just when you thought the serves wouldn’t get back on top, the two players have held serve for three games in a row.
My word.
Mannarino is doing everything he can to try and fight back into this set and match.
De Minaur is at a steady level of play but surely he knows that it is time to put the foot down as Mannarino loves to go deep into four or five set matches.
De Minaur leads 6-3, 6-2, 1-2 and he is about to serve.
The Princess of Wales has met some of the biggest tennis fans at Wimbledon by turning up to a queue of people who arrived at dawn outside the venue in the hope of gaining last-minute tickets to The Championships.
Princess Catherine, who is a patron of the All England Lawn Tennis Club, spoke to people who had waited in line from as early as 4am in the queue, which has become part of the tradition at Wimbledon each year.
Catherine also helped take payments at a ticket counter before heading to one of the matches on the fourth day of the event.
That was a ridiculous last game of the set and perhaps the court is starting to have a few gremlins on the surface as one de Minaur serve went low and flat at Mannarino’s middle while one of de Minaur’s lobs skied off the frame of his racquet and went super high before landing in.
But de Minaur did struggle to finish the game missing out on his first set point.
He followed that with two aces. He’s now two sets up.
De Minaur leads 6-3, 6-2
Nothing is assured or as it seems against Adrian Mannarino as he loves to come up with the most unlikely of winners.
But the left-hander is struggling badly with his serve, while Australian star Alex de Minaur is starting to find his best ground strokes.
De Minaur just broke him again, and he will serve for the second set after ripping through a forehand winner.
De Minaur leads 6-3, 5-2 and will serve next.
Alex de Minaur has broken Adrian Mannarino to love yet again to take a 3-2 lead in the second set.
But the value of break points isn’t near as much as usual, due to de Minaur having his own issues with his first serve.
As my colleague Marc McGowan wrote from the venue a few posts ago, when Demon lands the first set, he wins the point.
But when he doesn’t, that lets Mannarino strike.
De Minaur leads 6-3, 3-2 and serves next.
London: A far-from-perfect start from Alex de Minaur, but he still hangs on to win the opening set, 6-3, against wily Frenchman Adrian Mannarino.
Demon dropped serve once and almost made a mess of the end of that set, but he banks the first set and should be too good on what we’ve seen so far, assuming he can increase his level from here.
It’s steamy in London today, and these guys are two of the flatter hitters on tour, so the Slazenger balls are flying off the grass and staying very low.
But it’s been a simple equation for Demon today: if he makes his first serve, he pretty much wins all the points, and vice versa on his second serve.
It gives you a good insight into how that set went when you see Demon made only half his first serves.
The score is 6-3 1-2 with de Minaur to serve next.
