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10/4/08 2:24 PM | David Cox
Mathieu has surely seen his opponent play before, but Mannarino will have most of the surprise factor, as he has in all of his matches this week. He can just play with no fear.
Just a few weeks ago Mannarino was competing in a low-key Futures event in an empty hangar where the only spectators were a handful of coaches. He won that event and now he's competing in front of thousands and a TV audience.
It's amazing to think that this time last week his place in the second qualifying round looked in doubt when he lost the first set of his opening qualifying match with Rainer Eitzinger 6-1. However, he recovered to win that match in a third-set tiebreak and he's now in the main draw semis.
Mathieu's progress to the semis has been quite serene. Janko Tipsarevic was unlucky not to push the fourth seed to three sets in the quarters, but Mathieu simply played the big points just a little bit better.
Mathieu got as high as 12th in the world earlier this year so it's been a good season, but he's at his peak right now and the time is now if he's ever going to push into the top 10.
Looking ahead to the match he said, "Against Mannarino it will be a completely different story to playing Tipsarevic. He's very young and has nothing to lose. I only saw him play today."
Prediction: Mathieu in 2
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