Mannarino stuns Rublev and Duckworth ousts Darderi on Almaty upset day

Two of the four highest seeds at the Almaty Open lost their first matches on Wednesday. Both had received first-round byes. Adrian Mannarino beat fourth seed Andrey Rublev 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. On the same day, Australian James Duckworth knocked out second seed Luciano Darderi 7-5, 7-6. That leaves the ATP 250 in Kazakhstan without two of its main title contenders.

Mannarino finds his old touch against Rublev

Mannarino is 38 and ranked No. 79, 57 places below Rublev at No. 22. He has a long record in this part of the season. He won the title in 2023, when the event was held in Astana, and his match against Rublev was his second win of the week. Earlier in the week he had beaten Aleksandar Vukic 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-3 to set up the meeting with the Russian.

The Frenchman broke serve in the first game and saved five break points to hold his lead through the opening set. The second set went the other way. Mannarino took an extended break after the first set and then fell 0-3 behind, and Rublev went on to level the match. In the decider, Mannarino's early ball-striking and soft hands made the difference again. He won the last three games to close out a win that took more than two hours.

Duckworth ends long drought against Darderi

The day's other upset came from Duckworth. The Australian is ranked No. 73, and before this week he had not won a tour-level singles match since beating Matteo Arnaldi at the US Open in September. He ended that run in the first round against Miomir Kecmanovic, winning 6-4, 6-3. After that match he said it was "never easy in your first match, just trying to adapt to the conditions."

Against Darderi, the No. 23, Duckworth won the first set 7-5 and then took a tight second-set tiebreak to win in straight sets. Tennisnet described it as the day's biggest upset. For Darderi, the second seed, it is a disappointing first match in Almaty. His seeding had made him one of the favourites for the title.

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What comes next in Almaty

Mannarino will play qualifier Nikoloz Basilashvili in the quarter-finals. The Georgian's run continued with a straight-sets win over Facundo Díaz Acosta, after he had beaten Marin Čilić in the first round. Duckworth's quarter-final opponent will be decided in the remaining round-of-16 matches.

The rest of the draw still has plenty of big names. Daniil Medvedev is the top seed, and Alexander Bublik, Karen Khachanov and Stefanos Tsitsipas are also in the event. Khachanov beat qualifier Rei Sakamoto 6-2, 6-4 in the first round, and Tsitsipas got past Aleksandar Kovacevic 7-6(9), 3-6, 6-3.

With Rublev out, either Mannarino or Basilashvili will now reach the semi-finals, a stage the fourth seed had been expected to reach. At 38, Mannarino gets his chance to reach the last four at an event where he has already won a title.