Wimbledon 2026 LIVE: De Minaur wins first set over Mannarino despite serve woes; Maya Joint to follow on same court

De Minaur has broken Mannarino to love yet again to take a 3-2 lead in the second set.

But the value of break points isn’t near as much as usual due to de Minaur having his own issues with his first serve.

As my colleague Marc McGowan wrote a few posts ago, when Demon lands the first set, he wins the point.

But when he doesn’t, that lets Mannarino strike.

De Minaur leads 6-3, 3-2 and serves next.

LONDON: A far-from-perfect start from Alex de Minaur, but he still hangs on to win the opening set, 6-3, against wily Frenchman Adrian Mannarino.

Demon dropped serve once and almost made a mess of the end of that set, but he banks the first set and should be too good on what we’ve seen so far, assuming he can increase his level from here.

It’s steamy in London today, and these guys are two of the flatter hitters on tour, so the Slazenger balls are flying off the grass and staying very low.

But it’s been a simple equation for Demon today: if he makes his first serve, he pretty much wins all the points, and vice versa on his second serve.

It gives you a good insight into how that set went when you see Demon made only half his first serves.

The score is 6-3 1-2 with de Minaur to serve next.

This is the beauty of grass tennis, games can be over in a matter of minutes.

De Minaur has sprung off the bench following his win in the first set and he’s already got the break to start the second set.

But de Minaur then dropped his own serve in the second game going 0-40 down and then winning a couple of points before being forced into an error on game point.

The Demon pounded the ball into the net in frustration.

He’s winning this match but his serve is not where he wants it.

De Minaur leads 6-2 1-1 with Mannarino to serve.

Alex de Minaur has struck first winning the first set 6-3 in 38 minutes.

Mannarino didn’t make it easy as he forced him to deuce again, this time on the Aussie’s serve, but de Minaur kept his cool and found his winners before pumping his fist in celebration.

After all that struggle, Alex de Minaur looked set to win the first set in a cantor with Mannarino down 0-40.

Then the Frenchman reeled off a bunch of winners and flat shots that forced mistakes and he held his serve.

Now it is down to the Demon to handle business up 5-3 and serving now.

Just when you wanted to put our a call on the loud speaker for de Minaur’s lost serve, it comes roaring back.

The Demon was down an advantage at 4-2 ahead and facing a fourth-straight game with a break of serve.

Then he found his aces nailing two of them and then winning the next point.

Now he has a 5-2 lead with Mannarino to serve.

That is three break points in three games as both lads can’t seem to find their service game.

In their defence, they both have exceptional ground shots and they have already shown that, including a rally in the last game that went 25 shots, on grass.

De Minaur is serving at 4-2 ahead.

So much for consolidating the break point.

Mannarino has struck back and done so in style breaking de Minaur to love.

The Aussie gave himself little chance by repeatedly missing his first serve and his return shots just weren’t good enough.

It’s back to 3-2 with Mannarino to serve next.

Alex de Minaur has the first break of the match and it has come in just the fourth game.

Mannarinio took Demon to deuce in the Aussies’ previous service game but he turned the table on the Frenchman who got to break point and then gave up a double fault.

This is the perfect start for the Demon.

De Minaur leads 3-1