Adrian Mannarino for a third title, Christopher Eubanks for a first: the Frenchman and the American face off on Saturday in the final of the Mallorca grass tournament, the final preparation for Wimbledon. Mannarino, 43rd in the world, dominated German Jannik Hanfmann (48th) 7-6 (7/4), 6-4 on Friday.
“I hope to win the final, of course, but every time I lost in the final before a Grand Slam tournament, I had a good run in the Major!”, Underlined the 35-year-old Frenchman. He had won his first ATP tournament on the grass of Bois-le-Duc in 2019 and the second on the hard of Winston Salem in 2022. Mannarino reached the 8th finals at Wimbledon three times (2013, 2017 and 2018), his best result in Grand Slam, equaled in Australia in 2022. This year, he will face in the first round of the Major on grass which starts on Monday the Russian Alexander Shevchenko (95th).
In addition to his two titles, he has the experience of nine finals when his next opponent had never even reached the semi-finals on the main circuit but had lost in the quarters of the last Masters 1000 in Miami having come out of the qualifications. On this occasion, Eubanks beat Mannarino in the round of 16.
With this final, Eubanks, whose best ranking was previously 74th, will enter the Top 50 on Monday on the first day of Wimbledon where he will play for the first time. He will face the Brazilian Thiago Monteiro (96th) in the first round.
