Fifth-seeded Jack Draper of Great Britain cruised past No. 11 Tommy Paul of the United States 6-2, 6-2, on Wednesday to reach the quarterfinals of the Madrid Open.
Draper had four aces on the clay court and won 86 percent of his first-serve points while limiting the American to zero aces and just 53 percent of points won on his first serve.
“The more matches I play at this level will keep helping my confidence on this surface,” Draper said. “Obviously a win today, in that kind of way against someone who is ranked 12 in the world is a big thing for me.
“I’m just happy with the way I’m approaching the matches and my training and everything.”
Draper converted four of six break points while giving up no break-point chances during the match.
In another Round of 16 match, No. 10 Lorenzo Musetti of Italy downed No. 6 Alex De Minaur 6-4, 6-2.
Musetti converted three of 10 break points (30 percent) in the win over the Australia native. He hit 15 winners and committed 19 unforced errors.
On the other side, De Minaur had just five winners, 27 unforced errors and won just 11 of 48 return points (23 percent).
Gabriel Diallo of Canada also reached the quarters with a 7-5, 7-6 (7), 6-4 upset of No. 15 Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria.
Both men relied on their serves as Diallo notched eight aces and won 77 percent (75 of 97) of points on his first serve. Dimitrov had 14 aces while winning 59 percent (55 of 94) of his first service points.
In a closely contested match, Diallo had 31 winners and 26 unforced errors compared to Dimitrov’s 39 winners and 29 errors.
Diallo will square off against Musetti in one of Thursday’s quarterfinal matches.
Matteo Arnaldi of Italy also secured an upset, 6-3, 7-5, over No. 16 Frances Tiafoe of the United States.
Arnaldi converted three of five break points in the win while limiting Tiafoe to a 14 percent success rate (1-for-7).
The Italian will face Draper, the tournament’s top remaining seed, in another quarterfinal match on Thursday.
–Field Level Media
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