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- Ricky’s picks for Day 2 at the French Open Tennis, including Rafa Nadal vs. Thompson
- Upset Sunday: Garbiñe Muguruza, Ons Jabeur Both Fall in Roland Garros Openers
- Roland Garros Men’s and Women’s Draws and Schedule for Monday, May 23, 2022
- Roland Garros Men’s and Women’s Draws and Schedule for Sunday, May 22, 2022
- ATP, WTA Strip Wimbledon of Ranking Points
- Zverev: Stefanos Tsitsipas is Favorite in Bottom Half of Roland Garros Draw
- Roland Garros Men’s and Women’s Draws: Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev in Bottom Quarter
- French Open draw ceremony produces a Djokovic-Nadal quarter, Alcaraz also in top half
- Roland Garros Men’s and Women’s Draws: Osaka vs. Anisimova in First Round
- World No. 2 Barbora Krejcikova Signs with Fila
- The 20-Year Grand Slam Streak of Feliciano Lopez Has Come to an End
- Roland Garros Qualifying Draws and Schedule for Thursday, May 19th
- Roland Garros Qualifying Draws and Schedule for Wednesday, May 18th
- Gael Monfils Withdraws from Roland Garros
Nadal battles through epic first-set tiebreaker against Mannarino, will meet Shapovalov in Australian Open quarters
- Updated: January 23, 2022

By Ricky Dimon
Rafael Nadal beat Adrian Mannarino in straight sets, as almost everyone expected.
But the first set of their Australian Open fourth-round match on Sunday afternoon was anything but straightforward.
Twelve consecutive service holds led to a tiebreaker for the ages. It featured wild momentum swings, incredible rallies, and a total of 11 set points — seven for Nadal and four for Mannarino. At 28 minutes and 40 seconds, the tiebreaker alone last longer than the entire match between Jarkko Nieminen and Bernard Tomic at the 2014 Miami Masters.
The highlights — of which there were many — came with Nadal leading at 5-4 and 9-8. On the 10th point of the ‘breaker, the sixth-ranked Spaniard produced a ridiculous on-the-run forehand pass. Mannarino promptly saved set points at 4-6 and 5-6 before fighting off another at 6-7. At 8-9, an amazing exchange from the back of the court ended with the Frenchman firing a forehand winner that clipped the back of the baseline.
It finally ended on the 15-14 point, when Nadal scrambled to track down a drop-shot, correctly guessed which way Mannarino was going with the next shot, and answered with a swing forehand volley that Mannarino could not handle at the net.

“The first set [was] very, very emotional,” Nadal reflected afterward. “Anything could happen there. I was a little bit lucky at the end. Everybody knows how mentally [tough] this game is. It was a tough one, and after that crazy first set I think it was so important the break at the beginning of the second set.”
The 2009 Australian Open champion would break many more times, racing away from Mannarino for a 7-6(14), 6-2, 6-2 victory after two hours and 40 minutes.
Next up Nadal is Denis Shapovalov, who took down Alexander Zverev in convincing 6-3, 7-6(5), 6-3 fashion. Shapovalov is 1-3 lifetime against the 35-year-old, with a stunning upset at the 2017 Montreal Masters when he was just 18 years old followed by losses in 2018, 2019, and 2021.
Ricky contributes to10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on twitter at @Dimonator.