British No 1 Jack Draper reeled off the final three video games to provide a gutsy three-set victory towards ninth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas on the Cincinnati Open on Thursday.
Tsitsipas served for the match at 5-4 within the third set, however Draper gained 12 of the final 17 factors to say a shocking 3-6 6-4 7-5 win and attain the third spherical.
“I think Stefanos has a big presence and the court was insanely fast, so it’s hard to play good tennis,” Draper instructed Sky Sports activities.
“In the first hour I really struggled… and that just isn’t good enough against these top players.
“Basically, my grit, my dedication and my angle gained me the match at present, so I am very pleased with that.”
Draper had required a medical time-out throughout his first-round win over Jaume Munar, however gave the impression to be shifting freely in the course of the early exchanges.
Tsitsipas made a decisive break to guide 3-1 and regardless of selecting up shot-clock violations, the Greek world quantity 11 fended off a few break factors for Draper earlier than closing out the opening set.
Draper regrouped for the second set, his serve this time holding up properly, earlier than forcing dwelling a break level alternative within the tenth recreation following a double-fault by Tsitsipas to stage the match.
The 22-year-old, although, was quickly underneath stress once more as Tsitsipas had three break factors within the opening recreation of the deciding set, however Draper recovered for an important maintain.
Tsitsipas regarded to have taken a decisive break within the ninth recreation, solely to then discover himself 0-40 down following one other name for time violation and a double fault, which noticed Draper again on stage phrases at 5-5.
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The successful second as Draper comes from a set right down to knock out Tsitsipas
Draper, at present ranked 28 within the ATP standings, held to place the stress again on Tsitsipas earlier than changing an excellent return to seal one other hard-earned victory.
Draper is now 2-0 towards Tsitsipas and he’ll tackle the winner of seventh seed Casper Ruud or Felix Auger-Aliassime for a spot within the quarter-finals.
Story of the Tape
Alexander Zverev turned the primary participant to earn 50 tour-level wins this season after defeating Karen Khachanov 6-3 6-2 for a gap win.
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Highlights of Alexander Zverev towards Karen Khachanov
“I felt well on the court,” stated Zverev, who lifted the trophy in Cincinnati in 2021. “I have felt good in practice and then it is easier to bring on court. I didn’t feel well in Canada at all, even in the few matches I won. I hope my form is getting better and better and I can play some good tennis.
“We’re very related gamers. We’re each very tall and good baseline gamers and after we are each enjoying it’s about type and who’s enjoying higher and at present I’m completely happy that it was me and I bought an excellent win at present.”
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Yoshihito Nishioka was given a recreation penalty after being warned a number of occasions by the umpire to relax in his match towards Hubert Hurkacz
Elsewhere, Hubert Hurkacz got here by way of 3-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-1 towards qualifier Yoshihito Nishioka, who was handed a code violation recreation penalty after hitting balls into the gang as his frustrations boiled over in the course of the deciding set.
World No 7 Andrey Rublev noticed off China’s Zhizhen Zhang 6-4 6-3 to make the final 16 whereas Holger Rune got here by way of 6-3 7-6 (10-8) towards Nuno Borges.
American Ben Shelton delighted the house crowd as he battled to a 6-7 (8-6) 7-6 (9-7) 6-3 win over Argentina’s Tomas Martin Etcheverry.
Grigor Dimitrov, although, suffered an sudden defeat to Hungarian Fabian Marozsan, who fought from behind to win 4-6 6-4 6-3.
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