Mannarino beats Draper in gripping final to win Sofia Open title
The Frenchman won his third title of the season to deny Jack Draper his first in what was a high-quality contest
Adrian Mannarino wins the 2023 Sofia Open title Valentina Petrova/AP/SIPA
Adrian Mannarino defeated Jack Draper 7-6 (6), 2-6, 6-3 in a captivating and high-quality final to win the Sofia Open title.
It is Mannarino’s third title of the year, having also taken the trophies in Astana and Newport. It has been a superb season for the Frenchman, who has also compiled a career-best 40 match wins for the year.
By capturing his fifth career ATP title in Sofia, Mannarino has also denied Draper his first and ended the Briton’s nine-match winning streak.
Appearing in his first tour-level final, 21-year-old Draper rose to the occasion well, matching his vastly more experienced opponent throughout a thoroughly absorbing contest.
Mannarino’s experience ultimately proves crucial
The pair exchanged breaks of serve early in the first set before a tiebreak was required to separate them at the end of it. Here, 35-year-old Mannarino’s experience proved pivotal, as he just edged the breaker 8-6 to move into a crucial lead.
The second set was all about the young Briton, however, as Draper put on an exhibition of big-serving and aggressive returning to break twice without reply and level the match up in rapid style.
Both players held serve for the first five games of the decider, but it was Draper who blinked first, succumbing to excellent return pressure from the irrepressible Mannarino to fall a break behind in the sixth game.
This proved to be the fatal blow, as Mannarino served out the match – fending off a break point in the process – three games later to seal yet another brilliant win, clinching his third title in what has been a truly standout season.
“It was a very close match and honestly it could have gone either way,” the Frenchman said after the match.
“I can’t even say that it was the experience that made the difference. Maybe it’s just luck. I was a little luckier than him in the end. In tennis, sometimes it goes your way, and sometimes it doesn’t.”
Mannarino’s fine form continues, while Draper can look at many recent positives
Currently ranked 82nd in the world, Draper can take great heart from a very impressive run of form of late, having taken the ATP Challenger title in Bergamo last week before reaching his first tour-level final in Sofia this week. This comes off the back of a run to the fourth-round of a Grand Slam for the first time, making it to the second week of the US Open in September, despite having missed much of the season through injury.
But the day belongs to tour-veteran Mannarino, who has been in simply superb form in the second half of this season.
Back up to 25th in the ATP rankings, the Frenchman is just three places below his career-best ranking of 22nd, first achieved back in March 2018.
Based on the evidence of the past few months, and further underlined by his title-winning showing in Sofia this week, Mannarino looks well on course to break that previous ceiling.
The phrase, ‘like a fine wine’, somehow springs to mind.
