Adrian Mannarino is suddenly on a bit of a heater (relatively speaking). The French veteran- a throwback to a bygone era that valued slice and cunning over brute force- struggled to win successive matches in the first part of the season (at any level).
2025 ATP Tour
ATP 250
Mifel Tennis Open (Los Cabos Open)- EFG Swiss Open Gstaad
Selected Round of 32 Matches- 15th July
Mifel Tennis Open (Los Cabos Open)
Adrian Mannarino vs James Duckworth
Adrian Mannarino is suddenly on a bit of a heater (relatively speaking). The French veteran- a throwback to a bygone era that valued slice and cunning over brute force- struggled to win successive matches in the first part of the season (at any level). The 37-year-old lefty- who reached a career-high ranking of 17 last year- looked like he was on the brink of retirement a month ago. But the five-time grass-court finalist found some magic on his favourite surface, winning four matches at Wimbledon (he came through qualifying) before finishing runner-up at the Hall of Fame Challenger. Mannarino is a crafty operator who uses the low-bouncing grass conditions to his advantage. Can he harness this recent uptick in form and transfer it onto the hardcourts? He did win two indoor-hardcourt titles towards the end of 2023. Still, his form has been utterly dreadful outside of his recent grass-court “renaissance”.
This has also proven to be a challenging campaign for 33-year-old Aussie James Duckworth. The aggressive Aussie baseliner has struggled at tour-level this season, dropping outside the top 100 in the current world rankings. He has managed to keep his head above water with some sporadic Challenger success: he won at San Luis Potosi on clay and finished runner-up on the Morelia hardcourts. He did pick up a semblance of form on the grass, winning three matches- qualifiers included- at Eastbourne. He then pushed Felix Auger-Aliassime to five sets in their first-round Wimbledon clash. He struggled at the recent Hall of Fame Open but may fancy his chances of upsetting the Frenchman on these surfaces.
The Verdict: Duckworth to win in three sets at – Mannarino leads the head-to-head 3-1, winning their most recent meeting at the 2024 Dallas Open. This may seem like an odd choice given Mannarino’s improved form (not to mention his head-to-head superiority over the Aussie). I just think that Mannarino is going to struggle with the transition to hard surfaces. The courts don’t really respond to his trickster antics and Duckworth’s no-nonsense, flat hitting could get the job done.
EFG Swiss Open Gstaad
Stan Wawrinka 0.72 vs Alexander Shevchenko 1.1
It’s surely time for Stan Wawrinka to call time on a glittering- and completely underrated- career. The three-time Major champion has been struggling for tour victories this year, plying much of his trade on the Challenger tour (where he reached the semifinals in Iasi last week). He finished runner-up at another Challenger earlier this year, but it just feels a bit depressing to see Wawrinka fudging around the tour, scraping for round of 32 victories. This is a man who featured in some of the greatest Grand Slam duels of the last 15 years. John McEnroe was criticzed by some for calling on Fabio Fognini to retire a few weeks back (which the Italian duly did). I think people tend to give Grand Slam champs a bit more wiggle-room for these decisions. In any event, Wawrinka may indeed hang up his racquet if he fails to impress in front of his home fans this week. Wawrinka has never won this event and may indeed struggle on the clay (it is the most physically surface court to play on).
24-year-old Kazakh Alexander Shevchenko will be looking to put that final nail into Stan Wawrinka’s career coffin. The former Moselle Open runner-up has really struggled on the main tour this season, bringing a 3-11 record into this event (though he did pick up a Grand Slam first-round win at the French Open). I just think that Shevchenko lacks the raw firepower to consistently threaten the upper-echelon players. He has a solid serve, but his baseline game is centered more on strategic shot-making than power. He was soundly beaten by Opelka at Wimbledon but did reach the Slovak Open semifinals not too long ago. He picked up a notable clay-court victory earlier this year, taking down Cobolli in Hamburg.
The Verdict: Shevchenko to win in straight sets at 2.35- Shevchenko leads the head-to-head 1-0, taking down the Swiss in straight sets at the 2023 Basel Indoors. I think that the Kazakh- despite his poor form- could make it back-to-back wins against Wawrinka in his home country. Shevchenko will look to extend rallies, exhausting Wawrinka with his creative drop-shots and changes of pace. I think his specific style could trouble the ageing Swiss star.
