Jack Draper has reached the quarter-finals of the Madrid Open after a convincing straight-sets victory over American Tommy Paul.
The British No. 1, seeded fifth in the tournament, defeated the 11th seed Paul with a dominant scoreline of 6-2, 6-2. Draper is now set to compete against Italy`s Matteo Arnaldi in the next round, the last eight of the competition.
In the first set, Draper secured an early advantage by breaking Paul`s serve to take a 2-1 lead. He then extended his lead by winning three consecutive games from 3-2, effectively taking control of the match.
The 23-year-old had a chance to break Paul again in the third game of the second set. However, Paul managed to recover, fighting back from a break point opportunity to hold his serve.
Despite this minor setback, Paul`s resistance faded just two games later. Draper comfortably held his serve to go 40-0 up before capitalizing on one of three break points to establish a 3-2 lead in the second set.
From that point onwards, the match was firmly in Draper`s favour. The Briton held his serve easily to increase his advantage to 4-2 and then broke Paul`s serve for a final time with a well-placed forehand down the line.
Draper quickly closed out the match moments later, securing the victory having lost only a total of four games across both sets.
Match statistics highlight Draper`s strong performance: he won 86% of points on his first serve compared to Paul`s 53%, served four aces, converted four out of his six break point opportunities, and won 28 receiving points against Paul`s nine.
Post-Match Comments
Speaking after his win, Draper commented, “I just think I know that it`s just been a matter of time until I do something good on the clay.”
He added, “When I practise back home on it, and when I was younger, I always felt good on the surface.”
“It`s a bit of a different level now, obviously,” he continued. “It feels good to try and keep on proving to myself and everyone else that I`m a good player on this surface and that I`m dangerous.”
