WHAT HAPPENED: It didn’t happen the way he would have liked, but Frenchman Adrian Mannarino is through to the fourth round of the US Open for the first time.
Mannarino advanced on Friday afternoon by a scoreline of 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 (ret.), when sixth-seeded American Ben Shelton was forced to bow out with a left-shoulder injury after more than three hours of play in a packed Louis Armstrong Stadium.
Mannarino had been 0-5 in third-round matches in New York and was 0-22 against Top 10 players at Grand Slams. But the 37-year-old Frenchman, playing in his 15th US Open main draw, will now face 20th seed Jiri Lehecka of Czechia for a place in the quarterfinals. Lehecka beat Raphael Collignon of Belgium, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4, earlier on Friday.
“I’m happy to get through, and I wish him the best of course,” Mannarino said.
Shelton said he started to feel pain in his left shoulder at the beginning of the fourth set. The 22-year-old American took a medical timeout in the middle of Mannarino’s 0-1 service game. Shelton persisted in the fourth by changing tactics, serving-and-volleying and coming to the net more often.
During the match, Shelton told his box it was the "worst pain I’ve ever felt in my life," but he wasn't sure what caused it.
"I was just trying to adjust and figure out whatever I can to keep competing," he said of his fourth-set effort. "Even though I was in pain, I was just kind of in that competitive mindset of trying to find a way and push through it."
But after losing that set, Shelton hugged Mannarino and cried while walking off in front of the thousands of adoring fans in Armstrong.
Shelton said it was the first time he’s retired from a match. “Usually I'll play through anything and just kind of find a way. And whether it's sickness or injury, if I can stay out there, I can stay out there. I never felt anything like this before,” he said.
Mannarino’s unorthodox game, featuring short takebacks and flat groundstrokes, confounded Shelton, whose heavy-topspin and big-hitting game provided the kind of contrast tennis fans don’t see often these days. Mannarino was luring Shelton into longer rallies and moving the 6-foot-4 left-hander from side-to-side.
The veteran also kept escaping. Before Shelton broke to take the third set, Shelton had been two-for-nine on break points. And the tension was affecting Shelton as he had gently tossed his racquet and hung his head after break chances came and went. Most notably, Mannarino kept hanging around.
But, after an extended rally while Mannarino was serving down set point at 4-5 in the third set, the Frenchman netted a backhand, causing an eruption from Shelton and the packed partisan crowd. Shelton pounded his chest and held his hand to his ear, and the Armstrong fans obliged by leaping to their feet.
It seemed the match, and Shelton’s second fourth-round US Open showing, would be his. But the complexion of the match quickly shifted with the unfortunate injury, sending Mannarino through.
“Of course, when he started to have pain, he was leading in the match. Honestly, he would have probably won that match,” Mannarino said. “That’s unfortunate for him, and that’s very lucky for me.”
WHAT IT MEANS: Frustratingly, Shelton's injury spoiled what was an enticing matchup: “It was a cool match to play. Ben is playing really well,” Mannarino said.
Shelton’s breakthrough summer, which saw him win his first ATP Masters 1000 title in Toronto, also came to an abrupt halt.
But Mannarino lives on and will go for his best major championship result yet. He is 0-5 in fourth-round matches at Grand Slams.
MATCH POINT: At 37 years and two months old, Mannarino is the second-oldest man to reach his first US Open fourth round, after Ivo Karlovic, who was 37 years and six months old in 2016 when he advanced to that stage for the first time in New York.
