Great Britain’s Jack Draper continued his torrid play, knocking off fifth-seeded Taylor Fritz 7-6 (6), 4-6, 6-4 on Wednesday to advance to the Round of 16 at the Rolex Paris Masters.
Draper has won seven consecutive matches, dating back to the start of the Erste Bank Open, which he captured on Sunday in Vienna, Austria, for his second tour-level victory.
The Brit had the edge on the American in winners (38-27) and aces (14-8), and he forced Fritz to save eight of 10 break-point opportunities. Draper faced only two and didn’t save either. He was better on first-serve points, winning 77 percent (40 of 52) to 68 percent (43 of 63) for Fritz.
“I know if I want to be a consistent top player, I’m going to have to back up match after match against the top players in the world,” Draper said. “The toughest part (in Paris) has been adjusting to the conditions. It’s a lot different, a lot faster, which has made it tougher off the ground. I didn’t play my best, but I’m proud of how I competed and problem-solved.”
Third-seeded Alexander Zverev of Germany reached a tour milestone with his 7-6 (2), 6-2 win over Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands. Zverev has advanced to the Round of 16 at all nine ATP Masters 1000 tournaments in one season.
He is the fourth different player to accomplish the feat in series history — the most recent being Rafael Nadal in 2017. Nadal and Novak Djokovic were the first to do it, in 2009. Tomas Berdych did it twice, in 2011 and 2013.
Zverev, 6-1 all-time against Griekspoor, took advantage of his opponent’s 17 unforced errors. Griekspoor recorded slightly more winners (20-19) while committing just nine unforced errors.
The German saved all three break points he faced and converted his lone break-point opportunity.
“The last few matches that we played always went the distance, 7-6 in the fifth (at the French Open), 7-6 in the third (in Shanghai) as well,” said Zverev, who has won all six tiebreakers in his past five matches against Griekspoor. “So I’m happy that it didn’t go that far today. I felt for the first match it was pretty good from my end.”
The home fans got a thrill when France’s Arthur Cazaux upset hard-serving American Ben Shelton 6-3, 7-6 (4). Cazaux, who had a 21-15 advantage in winners, was only in the draw as a lucky loser because world No. 1 Jannik Sinner of Italy withdrew because of a virus.
Cazaux advanced to a third-round match against Denmark’s Holger Rune, the 2022 Paris winner and 13th seed who knocked off Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik 6-4, 6-2.
Another Frenchman, Arthur Fils, will meet Zverev for a berth in the quarterfinals. Fils won 6-3, 6-4 against Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff. French wild card Adrian Mannarino rallied to get past Belgian lucky loser Zizou Bergs 3-6, 6-2, 6-4.
French wild card Arthur Rinderknech also advanced out of the Round of 32 in a battle with American Alex Michelsen 7-6 (6), 7-6 (7). France’s Ugo Humbert, the 15th seed, downed American qualifier Marcos Giron 6-3, 6-2.
Russia’s Karen Khachanov overcame a tough first set to eliminate French wild card Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard 6-7 (12), 6-1, 6-4.
Australia’s Alexei Popyrin upset No. 4 Daniil Medvedev of Russia 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (4). No. 9 Alex de Minaur of Australia downed Serbian lucky loser Miomir Kecmanovic 6-4, 7-6 (5), and No. 8 Grigor Dmitrov of Bulgaria rallied past Argentina’s Tomas Martin Etcheverry 6-7 (9), 6-3, 7-5.
–Field Level Media
