Adrian Mannarino beat fourth seed Andrey Rublev 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in the second round of the Almaty Open. The 38-year-old Frenchman, ranked 79th, missed two match points before converting a third, and now meets qualifier Nikoloz Basilashvili in the quarter-finals.
Almaty, Kazakhstan: Andrey Rublev took the Centre Court on Wednesday for his first match of the week, courtesy of a first-round bye. He was ranked 22nd, a former top-five player and the fourth seed. Across the net stood Adrian Mannarino, the 79th-ranked left-hander, who had already won a three-set match on Monday against Aleksandar Vukic, 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-3.
A first set that went the Frenchman’s way
Mannarino broke in the opening game and then held serve despite facing five break-back points. He took the set 6-4.
Rublev levels, then the decider tightens
Rublev answered by breaking straight away in the second set and took it 6-3 to send the match into a decider. The third set stayed close until the sixth game, when Rublev saved a break point. He then lost his next service game, which left Mannarino 5-3 ahead. The Frenchman missed two match points before converting his third to finish 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
Afterwards Mannarino said he knew he would have lost had he played at his usual level, and that he had to raise it against a better player. The win is his second against Rublev in six meetings, and the Russian still leads the head-to-head 4-2.
A veteran’s good run continues
The result extends a productive autumn for Mannarino. Earlier this month he upset Flavio Cobolli at the Shanghai Masters. Tennis TV noted that he is the first man in the event’s history to reach four quarter-finals in Almaty. He won the tournament in 2023, when it was staged in Astana.
Rublev leaves the tournament after a single match. He had also gone out early in Shanghai, where qualifier Rei Sakamoto beat him in straight sets.
Basilashvili next
Mannarino’s quarter-final opponent is Nikoloz Basilashvili, a qualifier ranked 128th who has beaten Marin Čilić 6-2, 7-5 and Facundo Díaz Acosta 6-2, 6-4 to reach the last eight. Mannarino won their only previous meeting, in the first round at Shanghai on 7 October. The quarter-final had not been scheduled when the match ended.
Elsewhere on Wednesday’s Almaty card, Stefanos Tsitsipas, who beat Kovacevic in round one, was due to face the retiring Mikhail Kukushkin.
Result: Adrian Mannarino (FRA) bt Andrey Rublev (4) 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, Almaty Open (ATP 250), second round, Wednesday 21 October 2026.
Next: Mannarino v Nikoloz Basilashvili, quarter-final.
