After a convincing first-round victory, 23-year-old Dominic Thiem had a much tougher time dispatching his next opponent in the US Open. Thiem needed four sets (6-4, 6-4, 4-6, 7-5) to eliminate Californian upstart Taylor Fritz from the tournament.
The Austrian standout has yet to be beaten in the second round of the US Open in three career trips, and chances are that he’ll be able to make his third fourth-round appearance by the end of Saturday’s action.
Thiem should be too concerned with his third-round opponent in Adrian Mannarino, considering that he hasn’t lost to Mannarino in five lifetime meetings. Four of those victories even came on the hard courts, with two of them just earlier this year at Cincy and Acapulco – both in straight-sets fashion.
Like Thiem, 51st-ranked Adrian Mannarino needed four sets to defeat his second-round foe in Bjorn Fratangelo, 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-1, 6-2, following a quick victory in the first round of the Open.
Once again, the hard-serving Mannarino made good use of his power, now with a total of 17 aces in the tournament to just six from his opposition.
However, and apart from not having gotten one match over Thiem yet, the 29-year-old Frenchman generally buckles under pressure going up against the ATP Tour’s real heavyweights. Mannarino has a lifetime record of 3-22 against top-10 opponents. And yes, World No. 8 Thiem accounts for two of his five losses to such opponents this season alone.
