Mallorca Championships 2021: Dominic Thiem vs Adrian Mannarino preview, head-to-head & prediction
Match details
Fixture: (2) Dominic Thiem vs Adrian Mannarino
Date: 22 June 2021
Tournament: Mallorca Championships 2021
Round: Second round (Round of 16)
Venue: Mallorca, Spain
Category: ATP 250
Surface: Grass
Prize money: €720,000
Live telecast: USA - Tennis Channel | UK - Amazon Prime Video
Dominic Thiem vs Adrian Mannarino preview
Dominic Thiem begins his 2021 grasscourt campaign at the Mallorca Championships, where he will face Adrian Mannarino in the second round on Tuesday.
Thiem will be playing his first match on tour since his shock opening-round defeat at Roland Garros last month. The 27-year-old led by two sets against Pablo Andujar in that match, but then capitulated to bow out in five sets.
Dominic Thiem has been struggling with a myriad of physical and mental issues since winning the US Open last year. While his physical concerns seem to be on the mend, his mental demons have left a lasting impact on his game.
Thiem enters the grass season with a 9-8 win-loss record for the year, which is well below the norm for him. He has made the semifinals at only one event this year (Madrid), and has been knocked out before the quarterfinals in five.
Even though the Austrian has a career title on grass (2016 Stuttgart Open), he is winless on the surface in his last three matches dating back to 2018. Thiem's last grasscourt win came against Mikhail Youzhny at Halle that year; he has made consecutive first-round exits at Wimbledon (2018 and 2019) since then.
Adrian Mannarino, meanwhile, registered a 7-6(3), 6-3 win over the dangerous Jan-Lennard Struff in the first round on Sunday. The Frenchman struggled against Struff's serve for much of the first set, but turned things around with a sumptuous display of shot-making in the tiebreaker.
Mannarino then broke Struff early in the next set to seal the deal. This is the World No. 42's biggest result so far in the grasscourt season; he had suffered early defeats at Stuttgart and Queen's earlier.
Dominic Thiem vs Adrian Mannarino head-to-head
Dominic Thiem has played Adrian Mannarino eight times on tour and has won each of those encounters, thus holding an 8-0 head-to-head advantage. This will, however, be their first meeting on grass.
Dominic Thiem vs Adrian Mannarino prediction
Dominic Thiem has lost a set only twice against Adrian Mannarino, both of which came back in 2015. Thiem is clearly the favorite for this fixture on paper.
The Austrian has, of course, been the most unpredictable top-ranked player on tour this year, so an upset is always on the cards. But given that Mannarino's groundstrokes and lefty serve have never caused him much of a problem in the past, Thiem is likely to prevail this time too.
Prediction: Dominic Thiem to win in three sets.