It’s been a difficult season for Adrian Mannarino, but the French veteran has shown signs of a resurgence over the last few weeks, and in Beijing on Thursday he hit a major milestone, posting the 300th win of his career with an opening victory over Lorenzo Sonego in the Chinese capital.
And it wasn’t easy—he battled back from a first-set blow-out to overcome the Italian in three sets, 1-6, 6-2, 6-3.
The 36-year-old lefty is just the 12th Frenchman in the entire Open Era to reach 300 career wins, and the third active Frenchman to achieve the feat after fellow veterans Richard Gasquet and Gael Monfils.
FRENCHMEN WITH 300+ WINS IN OPEN ERA (tour-level):
605: Richard Gasquet
561: Gael Monfils
504: Gilles Simon
482: Yannick Noah
470: Fabrice Santoro
467: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
389: Cedric Pioline
378: Guy Forget
377: Henri Leconte
341: Sebastien Grosjean
316: Arnaud Clement
300: Adrian Mannarino
Coincidentally, Mannarino could face Monfils in the second round in Beijing—though Monfils would have to get past No. 5-ranked Daniil Medvedev in his first-round match to set that up.
More to come…
