Alex de Minaur in action against Adrian Mannarino and Maya Joint looks to continue strong run vs seeded Alexandra Eala

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.