This year’s Nur Sultan finalist Adrian Mannarino rallied from one set down to beat Martin Klizan 3-6 6-1 7-5 in 2 hours and nine minutes to advance to the second round at the Sofia Open, the last ATP 250 tournament of the 2020 season.
Klizan came back from 15-40 down to break serve on his second opportunity in the second game of the first set to open up a 2-0 lead. The Slovakian player saved three break points to hold serve after two deuces in the seventh game and served out on his second set point in the ninth game.
Mannarino broke twice in the second and fourth games and saved two break points to hold serve to race out to a 5-0. The Frenchman served out the second set at deuce in the seventh game.
Mannarino converted his second break point in the third game of the second set to take a 2-1 lead. Klizan broke back in the sixth game to draw level to 3-3. Mannarino went down 4-5 but he won three consecutive games with a break in the 11th game to clinch the third set 7-5.
Mannarino has improved to 8-3 since the start of last month’s bett1 HULKS Championships in Cologne.
The Frenchman will take on Egor Gerasimov for a place in the quarter final. Gerasimov fended off two of the three break points in his 6-3 3-6 6-3 win over Viktor Troicki after 1 hour and 43 minutes.
Marc Andrea Huesler from Switzerland saved two match points to edge Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-1 4-6 7-6 (8-6). Huesler will take on either Jannik Sinner or Marton Fucsovics.
Huesler broke twice in the fourth and sixth games to win the opening set 6-1 and saved a break point in the sixth game of the second set. The second set went on serve until the 10th game, when Basilashvili converted his second break point to claim the second set 6-4.
Basilashvili saved a break point to hold his serve after three deuces in the ninth game. Huesler fended off two match points in the 12th game to set up a tie-break. Both players traded tie-breaks twice in the tie-break. Huesler earned another mini-break on his second match point to seal the tie-break 8-6.
Italy’s Salvatore Caruso came back from one set down to beat world number 291 Dimitar Kuzmanov 4-6 6-4 6-4 after 2 hours and 22 minutes. Caruso will face Canada’s Felix Auger Aliassime for the first time in his career. Kuzmanov earned an early break in the second game of the opening set to take a 2-0 lead. Caruso broke straight back in the third game for 1-2. Caruso went down 0-40 in the eighth game, but he held his serve at deuce. Kuzmanov sealed the first set 6-4 with a break on his third set point.
Caruso won four games from 1-1 with a double break to race out to 5-1 lead with two consecutive breaks. Kuzmanov pulled one break back in the eighth game to claw his way back to 4-5. Kuzmanov saved two set points in the 10th game, but Caruso closed out the second set on his third set point.
Caruso did not convert two break points at 1-1 in the third set before breaking serve at 30 in the ninth game to take a 5-4 lead. The Italian player served out the third set at 30 in the 10th game.
Czech 19-year-old rising star Jonas Foretejk upset 2014 US Open Marin Cilic 6-2 6-3 in 66 minutes. The Next Gen player converted four of the five break points,
Foretejk came back from 40-0 down to break serve at deuce in the second game to break serve at deuce in the second game of the opening set for 2-0. Cilic broke straight back in the third game. Foretejk saved a break point in the seventh game before getting his second break in the eighth game to close out the first set 6-3. Foretejk went up a double break in the second and fourth games to win the second set 6-2.
Vasek Pospisil rallied from 0-40 down at 5-5 in the third set and saved eight of the ten break points to beat Ilya Marchenko 6-2 5-7 7-6 (7-5). The Canadian player set up a second round match against Germany’s Jan Lennard Struff.
