Stan Wawrinka was once no. 3 in the world and has won three Grand Slam titles but he’s lost all three ATP matches vs Adrian Mannarino despite being three years older and wiser than the lefty Frenchman.
Mannarino won the first match vs. Stanimal at 2015 Miami Open round of 32 by a scoreline of 76 76.
Their second duel came seven years later in Astana 2022 round of 32 and Wawrinka again prevailed 16 62 63.
Earlier this year in their third clash, Mannarino and Wawrinka battled in the first round of Australian Open and the 36 year old beat the 39 year old again 64 36 57 63 60.
Today in Basel Swiss Indoors, the fourth match will be played. Wawrinka is very hungry to score the first win vs Mannarino as he is ranked a low 169. Mannarino is also highly motivated as his ranking has fallen to 57 from a career high of 17 in January.
Mannarino has won five career ATP singles titles and over $12m compared to Wawrinka’s 16 titles and over $37m.
It’s one of those hard to fathom ATP head to heads that the far less accomplished Mannarino has been able to dominate the future Hall of Famer from Switzerland. It must be that Wawrinka’s pace and patterns fit comfortably into Mannarino’s strengths and style of absorbing and redirecting heavy pace.
With three lessons learned from Mannarino perhaps today Wawrinka will finally solve the puzzle and master his unlikely court master.
Adrian Mannarino · Stan Wawrinka · Where are the confounding mix of players in Basel heading? Down or back up?
Scoop Malinowski · October 23, 2024 at 12:29 pm
Mannarino is 1-2 vs another big hitter with big credentials… Delpo. Mannarino won the first match in 2011 at Queens on grass 76 76. But Delpo won the next two matches both at Aus Open 2012 and 2013 first round, in three and four sets.
Scoop Malinowski · October 23, 2024 at 3:54 pm
Stan solved Mannarino finally, 63 36 75. Big serving the difference.
Steve · October 24, 2024 at 7:58 am
If a player has a funky style it sometimes takes a few times to figure out how to beat them but it was a close match. Hopefully, they will meet again.
Scoop Malinowski · October 24, 2024 at 8:18 am
Very unlikely they are drawn together again. probably 5 million to 1.