Adrian Mannarino advances in Mallorca after Dominic Thiem retires

Thiem was leading the opening set 5-2, but appeared to injure his right wrist when he struck a forehand. Elsewhere, Daniil Medvedev had it easy in his match.

Dominic Thiem retires from his match; Credit: Twitter@MallorcaChamps
By Karthik Raman | Jun 23, 2021 | 3 Min Read follow icon Follow Us

Dominic Thiem’s grass-court debut at the Mallorca Championships came to an early end after the Austrian was forced to retire against Adrian Mannarino. The second seed was leading 5-2 in the first set on Tuesday when he appeared to injure his right wrist while striking a forehand. Thiem was playing in his first grass-court event since 2019 at Wimbledon. The reigning US Open champion arrived in Mallorca looking to find his feet after a first-round exit at Roland Garros, but unfortunately, he was not able to stay in the tournament for long.

Thiem came into the match against Mannarino with an 8-0 edge in their ATP head-to-head. He looked set to continue his dominance after powering his way to a blistering start. In no time, he secured a 5-2 lead and was closing in on the first set. At 15/0, he appeared to injure his right wrist when he struck a forehand. After receiving a medical time out, the Austrian retired from the match with just 35 minutes played.

“It’s nice for me to be in the quarter-finals, but winning this way is not so cool. I really like Dominic, he’s such a nice guy and I hope he will be feeling better soon,” Mannarino said in an on-court interview. “I hope it is not so serious, especially right before Wimbledon.

“I’ve never beat him in the past and obviously he was leading in the scoreboard… I think I was playing okay until Dominic had to stop. I hope he is going to be okay and that I can make a good result here.”

In the Mallorca quarterfinals, Mannarino will next face 39-year-old Feliciano Lopez. The Spaniard took down sixth seed Karen Khachanov 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 to record his 500th match win. In their ATP head-to-head, Lopez leads Mannarino 2-1.

Medvedev has it easy in Mallorca opener

World No. 2 Daniil Medvedev registered a straight forward 6-4, 6-2 victory over Corentin Moutet to reach the quarterfinals at the Mallorca Championships. After bowing out in the first round in Halle last week, this victory will be a confidence booster for the Russian.

“In the beginning I couldn’t hit two balls in the court and I was missing lots of serves when I had 40/0. On grass, that’s not the best thing to do in my first [service] game of the match,” Medvedev said in an on-court interview. “But I’m really happy that I managed to win the match because that’s what gives [me] confidence and [hopefully] in the next rounds I can play better.”

Fifth seed Casper Ruud, who advanced with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Tennys Sandgren, will stand between Medvedev and a third grass-court semi-final. Medvedev leads their ATP head-to-head 1-0. The Russian had earlier advanced to the semifinals at Eastbourne in 2017 and Queen’s Club in 2019.

“Casper is a great player, he jumped a lot this year [in the FedEx ATP Rankings],” Medvedev said after the match. “Hopefully the grass can help me a little bit because it’s not his best surface. But I’m sure he is playing good here and I need to be at my best.”