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Delays no match for Mannarino

1 January 2011, by Brisbane International Tennis

Day two of qualifying was, unfortunately, dictated by the weather, which was not the kind tennis fans love to see.

Matches were due to begin at 10:00 am but early drizzle kept players off court. When the rain eventually cleared the fans who stuck it out were treated to some tight affairs.

But if you were an Australian fan hoping to see some locals continue their quest, then, like the weather, the results weren’t favourable.

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Carsten Ball, Ben Mitchell and Brydan Klein all fell in three sets to Adrian Mannarino, Peter Polansky and Marco Crugnola respectively.

Ball looked close to upsetting the qualifying top seed Mannarino, but he came up just short in a drawn out tiebreaker.

After trading the first two sets, the deciding set went to a tiebreaker, which was poised delicately with Ball leading 4-3 when the lights went out. Literally.

The bemused players took their seats as they waited for the issue to be resolved. After a 20-minute wait, play resumed.

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Ball had his chances but a backhand slice approach that went long both frustrated Ball and handed Mannarino an unexpected advantage as the Frenchman went on to close out the tiebreaker 7-5 6-7(3) 7-6(7).

For Mannarino the match it was a long day at the office, but a fruitful one.

“So many crazy moments in this match … He was serving so good, his first serve was huge. I had to wait and maybe take the good moments to play my best tennis.”

Mannarino is now through to the second round where he will face Polansky for a place in the third round of qualifying.

In other matches, Germany’s Mathias Bachinger is into the second round of qualifying after disposing of Robert Farah 6-2 6-0, Richard Berankis defeated Jean-Rene Lisnard 6-7(4) 6-1 6-3, while Stefan Koubek was too good for Juan Sebastian Cabal.

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Tickets are still available for Brisbane International 2011 from Ticketek.