Jack Draper pulled off an impressive comeback in the second round of the Cincinnati Open to defeat world No.11 Stefanos Tsitsipas in three sets.
Draper had trailed by a set and then a break in the decider before rallying back to beat the ninth seed 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 in two hours and 20 minutes.
Tsitsipas had the chance to serve for the match at 5-4 in the third, but Draper found a way to break twice in the last three games to book his place in the third round.
The 22-year-old has now beaten the former Australian Open and Roland Garros runner-up in both of their meetings on tour. It’s the young Brit’s 11th win against a top 20 opponent in his career so far.
“In the first hour I really struggled and that just isn’t good enough against these top players,” he said after the match.”In general, my grit, my determination and my attitude won me the match today, so I’m very proud of that.”
Next up for Draper will be either Casper Ruud or Felix Auger-Aliassime for a place in the quarter-finals.
Doubles
Harriet Dart and Australian partner Ellen Perez pulled off the upset of the second round as they took out second seeds Su-Wei Hsieh and Elise Mertens 6-3, 7-5.
Dart and Perez saved two set points on Hseih and Mertens’ serve in the second set before going on to claim the Brits’ best doubles win of the season.
They will play fellow Brit Olivia Nicholls and Tereza Mihalikova after they knocked out fifth seeds Lyudmyla Kichenok and Jelena Ostapenko 6-4, 7-5.
In the men’s doubles, Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski both fought their way to the quarter-finals as well.
Third seeds Salisbury and Rajeev Ram beat German duo Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz 7-6(4), 7-6(3) to set up a clash with Mackenzie McDonald and Alex Michelson.
Meanwhile, Skupski and Michael Venus claimed a 6-3, 2-6, 10-4 victory over sixth seeds Edouard Roger-Vasselin and Santiago Gonzalez.
They could face either top seeds and last weeks’ National Bank Open winners Marcel Granoller and Horacio Zeballos or Hugo Nys and Jan Zielinski in the quarters.
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