Mannarino defeats young challenger in Infosys tennis tourney
NEWPORT — Class was in session Sunday afternoon at the Infosys Hall of Fame Open.
Alex Michelsen might never see the inside of a college lecture hall at Georgia. Should the teenager opt to turn professional at some point in the near future, his teachers will be standing across the net from him.
Adrian Mannarino offered a lesson in guile while making his 10th appearance here. The left-handed veteran served, sliced and slid his way to a third career title, denying Michelsen a fairy-tale ending at the Newport Casino.
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Mannarino was in charge throughout this 6-2, 6-4 triumph that capped off a week under the sunshine. He’s been a top-75 player in the rankings for a decade and has finally started to see his consistency pay off through a win last year at Winston-Salem, a final earlier this summer at Mallorca and this lifting of the Van Alen Cup.
“I’m getting old,” Mannarino said. “My body is not responding as well as it used to respond 10 years ago. But I feel like my level of tennis is higher than it was.”
Michelsen stormed to a Challenger victory at Chicago last week and was attempting to become the youngest Tour winner in 2023. Only three players under 20 have captured a tournament over the last seven months — current world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz accounted for three of those five triumphs before celebrating his birthday in May. Michelsen was also bidding to become the youngest American winner on Tour since Andy Roddick in 2001.
“I held serve a couple of times and made some poor decisions — shot selection,” Michelsen said. “Adrian was playing really well and not missing a ton of shots. He made it hard for me.”
Mannarino frustrated Michelsen throughout the opening set, forcing the 18-year-old to hit an extra ball in seemingly every rally. His second break of serve to 5-2 came when Michelsen netted a baseline backhand and followed by clipping the tape with a backhand volley. Michelsen’s forehand up the line went long on set point and Mannarino had a quick lead in the match.
“It’s all about what you’re going to show to your opponent,” Mannarino said. “Today I was trying to make him think I was comfortable and was ready to play some long, long rallies.”
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Michelsen found his footing early in the second set, sending a backhand pass up the line and lashing a crosscourt backhand return for a break that made it 2-0. Mannarino responded immediately, cracking his own backhand pass up the line to jump back on serve at 2-1. Michelsen’s backhand into the net at 4-4 gave Mannarino the break he needed to serve for the match.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever played a lefty like that before,” Michelsen said. “It’s been a while. I couldn’t think of one off the top of my head.”
The majority of the capacity crowd seemed to back Michelsen, who took care of four-time champion John Isner the previous afternoon. Mannarino simply went about his business throughout the event, including a semifinal victory over Ugo Humbert in which he dropped just seven games.
“My general mood is really affecting my game,” Mannarino said. “Spending some really good time with my friends — especially for a tennis player who’s traveling the world every week — is good sometimes.”
The singles final was the second match on court Sunday. The doubles title was decided first, and the team of Nathaniel Lammons-Jackson Withrow held off Max Purcell-William Blumberg, 6-3, 5-7, 10-5.
Lammons-Withrow rode an early break to take the opening set before Purcell steered a forehand winner up the line to grab the second. He and Blumberg jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the super tiebreaker before Lammons-Withrow reverted to the form that pushed them into a fourth career final. Each of their previous three matches this week were decided in a race to 10 points — 10-8, 13-11 and 11-9 preceded this somewhat easier conclusion.
“We got kind of used to and comfortable in that position, that environment,” Lammons said. “We got down in all of them this week — got down a little bit early here. We gave ourselves a little more time to come back.”
Blumberg was seeking a third straight doubles title in this event — he teamed with Jack Sock in 2021 and Steve Johnson in 2022. The summer Little Compton resident partnered with Purcell, who captured the Wimbledon doubles crown with Matthew Ebden last year.
“[Purcell] hit a pretty nasty winner on that deuce point,” Withrow said. “I think it’s just resetting. Take a deep breath, trust our stuff and do what’s been working for us this whole week.”
On Twitter: @BillKoch25
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Mannarino defeats young challenger in Infosys Tennis Hall of Fame tourney
