Adrian Mannarino came back from one set down to beat Dominic Thiem 4-6 6-4 7-6 (7-5) at Indian Wells.
Thiem arrived in Indian Wells with a record of 1 one win to 5 defeats in 2023. Thiem won his only match this year against Alex Molcan in Buenos Aires. The Austrian player was playing his first match in Indian Wells since he won this tournament in 2019 by beating Roger Federer in three sets.
Mannarino won his second consecutive match against Thiem, who now leads 8-2 in his head-to-head series against his French opponent.
Mannarino earned an early break in the first game of the opening set and held on his serve. Thiem broke back in the fourth game to draw level to 2-2 and closed out the set 6-4 with a break in the 10th game.
Thiem won 11 consecutive games from 0-2 down to build up a 6-4 3-0 lead with an early break at the start of the second set. Mannarino reeled off five consecutive games from 1-4 down to win the second set forcing the match to the third set.
Mannarino earned an early break in the third game of the decisive set to take a 2-1 lead, but Thiem broke back in the eighth game to draw level to 4-4. Both players held their next service games, where just two points went against serve in the final four games of the third set. They set up a decisive tie-break. Thiem took a 3-2 lead with a down the line backhand pass before earning a mini-break for 5-3, but Mannarino came back by winning four consecutive points to clinch a dramatic tie-break 7-5. Mannarino won 22 of 35 points at the net.
Mannarino set up a second round match against Lorenzo Musetti, who will receive a bye in the first round.
Mannarino arrived in Indian Wells after two first round defeats against Alexander Kovacevic in the Monterrey Challenger and Elias Ymer in Acapulco. “I knew if I was just playing my game, I would lose this match. So I was just trying to step up a little bit, be a little bit more aggressive, and it worked out. I returned pretty well in the big moments. I think that was the key”, said Mannarino.
