Adrian Mannarino impressed in his opening match at the Aegon Open in Nottingham as he took down the American young gun Taylor Fritz 6-3, 6-2 in just 53 minutes.
The pair were meeting for the first time, with Mannarino playing his sixth match of the season on the surface (3-2), while for Fritz it was just his fourth match (1-2), however, the American did take a set off Roger Federer in the second round clash in Stuttgart, with the Swiss winning 6-4, 5-7, 6-4.
Fritz made his ATP World Tour debut here last year, defeating Pablo Carreno Busta 6-1, 6-4, before losing to Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 6-3 in the last 32.
Quickfire first set won by the Frenchman
Fritz, the youngest player ranked in the top 100 of the Emirates ATP Rankings, got off to a slow start on serve, dropping his opening game and was under further pressure down break point in the third game. The world number 63 saved the point with a forehand winner and was able to hold to get a game on the board.
When serving to stay in the first set, Fritz put himself under pressure once again after a double fault left him facing two sets points. After an extended rally, Mannarino guided a forehand down the line winner to wrap up the set 6-3.
Mannarino moves further clear
Things went from bad to worse for Fritz at the start of the second set as a few erratic errors left him 0-40 down on serve. The American saved the first two but could not save a third.
Mannarino appeared to have his first blip on serve in game three as Fritz clawed his way back from 40-0 to deuce but the Frenchman was able to come through and secure a 3-0 lead. The Frenchman was under pressure once more at 15-30 in his next service game it reeled off three points in a row to take a 4-1 lead.
Fritz came out to serve to stay in the match but was blown off the court by the Frenchman's firepower as he dropped serve to love to seal the match for Mannarino 6-3, 6-2.
A very strong performance from the world number 57 to open proceedings on Centre Court, Mannarino won 83 percent behind his first serve and did not have to face a single break point. The Frenchman now goes on to face 12th seed Paolo Lorenzi the second round, the same stage where he crashed out here last year.