British No 1 Jack Draper wasted little time in reaching his first quarter-final at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna on Thursday after a clinical performance.
Draper, who is looking to cap off the best season of his career in style by clinching a second ATP title of the year, raced past Italian world No 42 Luciano Darderi 7-5 6-1 in 76 minutes and into the last eight where he could meet third seed Grigor Dimitrov.
The 22-year-old, who had marked his comeback from injury with a victory over Kei Nishikori in the previous round, served superbly throughout and hit a total of 15 aces.
Four of those came in succession as he served out for the opening set after breaking Darderi in the 11th game, with two net cords going against the unfortunate Italian.
Draper broke serve again in the first game of the second set and Darderi, who had beaten Dominic Thiem in the last match of the former US Open champion’s career on Tuesday, could not find a way back into the contest.
“I struggled a little bit on my first round, I served pretty well, but off the ground, I could have been a lot better and then today I really found a level,” Draper said in a courtside interview.
“I thought that Darderi came out playing incredibly well, the first set. I had some chances and I had to stay calm.
“There were a couple of moments of frustration, but I think he really brought out the best of my tennis today and I’m really happy with the way my level was so consistent today.”
Draper, who retired during his quarter-final against Ugo Humbert in Tokyo last month due to an abdominal injury, added: “I didn’t know what to expect coming out after being injured and I was ill for a week as well, so I was potentially going to be a bit rusty and my body wasn’t going to be feeling too good.
“But I felt like the last two matches I’ve been really strong and my movement, my confidence in everything I’m doing elevated today.
“Really happy with that and hopefully I can continue moving forward this week.”
What’s coming up on Sky Sports Tennis?
- Erste Bank Open, Vienna – ATP 500 (October 21-27 – Jack Draper in action Friday)
- Swiss Indoors, Basel – ATP 500 (October 21-27)
- Guangzhou Open, China – WTA 250 (October 21-27)
- Toray Pan Pacific Open Tennis, Tokyo – WTA 500 (October 21-27 – Katie Boulter in action Friday)
- Hong Kong Tennis Open – WTA 250 (October 28 – November 3)
- Jiangxi Open – WTA 250 (October 28 – November 3)
- Merida Open Akron – WTA 250 (October 28 – November 3)
- Rolex Paris Masters – ATP 1000 (October 28 – November 3)
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