Fresh from gruelling three-set openers at the Cincinnati Open, Jack Draper and ninth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas meet in an intriguing second-round tie on Thursday.
The Briton – making his debut at the Masters tournament – edged a nervy tie-breaker to sink Jaume Munar on Wednesday, while his Greek counterpart came from behind to eliminate Jan-Lennard Struff and avoid a shock early exit.
Match preview
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Two hours and 33 minutes and one smashed racquet later, Draper earned his first hard-court victory since March’s Miami Open against Spanish qualifier Munar, who fought back against his British counterpart after losing the first set and earned the first mini-break in the pivotal tie-breaker.
However, a succession of Draper aces and winners turned the tide at the crucial moment as the world number 28 miraculously prevailed 7-5 3-6 7-6[5] in his inaugural Cincinnati bout, thereby ensuring that his losing streak would not stretch to three matches.
The 22-year-old’s Canadian Open run came to a premature end at the hands of Jordan Thompson after his short-lived Paris 2024 Olympics campaign, where Taylor Fritz sent him packing in round two, but he looked more like his clinical self for large parts of Wednesday’s battle.
Renowned for his sometimes unrivalled ability to convert break points when they come, Draper took four of five such chances against Munar and sits second on the overall ATP Tour list when it comes to break-point conversions over the past year; his 44.8% is only bettered by Mariano Navone‘s 45.5%.
While Draper had never won or even played a Cincinnati Open match before squaring up to Munar, Tsitsipas already has one runners-up medal from the ATP 1000 tournament, losing to Borna Coric in 2022 after reaching the semi-finals for the third year in succession.
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Improving on last year’s disappointing third-round exit is the primary objective for the mercurial Greek, who came into Cincinnati on the back of a highly-publicised split from his father and long-time coach, whom he had heavily criticised out in the open following his early Montreal departure.
The ninth seed was temporarily up against it in his first-round encounter with towering German Struff, but by cutting out the early mistakes and benefitting from his opponent’s serving disasterclass in the second set – where he double-faulted eight times – Tsitsipas came through 4-6 6-4 6-3 in one hour and 57 minutes.
Unlike upcoming foe Draper, ruthlessness was not the Greek’s standout quality on Wednesday, as he only converted three of the 14 break points that he managed to fashion, but he could hardly have concluded the contest more perfectly, firing back-to-back aces for a third straight love hold.
The world number 11 already boasts one Masters crown from the 2024 season in the shape of the Monte-Carlo trophy, the third time in four years that he has conquered Roquebrune-Cap-Martin clay, but that remains the only ATP 1000 tournament he has ever triumphed in.
It has certainly not been through a lack of trying for Tsitsipas, who has lost four other finals and nine semi-finals in Masters tournaments, and an equally taxing test against either Casper Ruud or Felix Auger-Aliassime will await in round three if he can complete his Draper revenge mission.
Tournament so far
Jack Draper:
First round: vs. Jaume Munar 7-5 3-6 7-6[5]
Stefanos Tsitsipas:
First round: vs. Jan-Lennard Struff 4-6 6-4 6-3
Head To Head
Canadian Open (2022) – Second round: Draper wins 7-5 7-6[4]
Only once before have Draper and Tsitsipas locked horns at the top level, but it coincidentally came in a Masters setting on hard courts two years ago, where the Briton pulled off a mighty upset of his Greek foe at the Canadian Open.
That year, a 20-year-old Draper had come through qualifying to earn his maiden top-10 victory on the ATP Tour, where he wiped out an early Tsitsipas break in the second set and benefitted from 40 unforced errors from this year’s ninth seed.
Thursday’s reunion will see an intriguing reunion between the left-handed Draper and right-handed Tsitsipas, and there is nothing to separate either man on the physical front at 6ft 4in each.
We say: Tsitsipas to win in three sets
Memories of their opening clash at Montreal 2022 ought to be fresh in the minds of both men on Thursday, Tsitsipas in particular, as the Greek endeavours to avoid a repeat of that error-strewn defeat.
Draper’s knack for taking break points should see this one go the distance against his equally fatigued foe, whose coaching situation has been an unwelcome distraction, but if Tsitsipas exhibits the same style he did in the second half of his victory over Struff, he should prove too difficult for Draper to overcome.
