By Tony Fairbairn

• Jack Draper def Jiri Lehecka 7-5 6-2
• Draper v Taylor Fritz [5] | H2H: Fritz leads 2-1

PARIS, FRANCE – Jack Draper eased past Jiri Lehecka to reach the second round in Paris-Bercy where he will now face fifth seed Taylor Fritz.

Jack Draper def Jiri Lehecka 7-5 6-2

Jack Draper continued his winning streak in the French capital after easing past Jiri Lehecka in straight sets. The British number one gained revenge from his Adelaide final defeat at the start of the year by playing attacking and proactive tennis throughout the contest. The match itself went by quickly as both players served efficiently and played attacking tennis.

Despite struggling with injuries throughout the season, Lehecka played confident tennis as he built on the tennis that saw him reach the final in Antwerp a couple of weeks ago. A great showing on serve but on return Lehecka offered nothing to threaten Draper as the Brit continued his dominant serving from his run to the title in Vienna.

The world number 15 dropped six points on serve in the opening set as he played with freedom on return. Eventually Draper’s continued resistance on return would be rewarded as Lehecka made some careless errors at the net and the Brit played some deep shots to pin the Czech Republican behind the baseline. On his third break point of the set, Draper broke for a 6-5 lead as he served out the opening set in a rapid 38 minutes.

At the start of the second set, both players continued to be dominant on serve producing intelligent shots to neutralize the other players’ strengths. The Czech Republican tried everything to produce errors from Draper but nothing worked as lack of match practice in the second half of the season showed for Lehecka.

This allowed Draper to cruise to the last four games of the match, breaking on two occasions as the Brit secured his place into the second round.

Jack Draper v Taylor Fritz [5] H2H & Match Fundamentals

Draper will now face Taylor Fritz for the third time this year with the American winning both previous meetings in 2024 although they were both on clay.

Tale of the Tape – Key Stats (2024)

Draper will continue his confident and dominant form against a player that is aiming to finish the strong.

Playing Styles and Prediction

As a result of his nearest rivals losing, Fritz has now confirmed his place at the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin in a couple of weeks time. However the American will want to play his way into form and the US Open finalist is hoping that a deep run in the French capital will send a big statement to his competition.

Draper will continue to be dominant on serve as he will use the forehand to pin Fritz back and will use the drop shot to make Fritz run. Meanwhile Fritz will look to extend the rallies and test Draper’s physicality with the fifth seed looking to dictate play with the backhand. This will be a tough test for Draper but the Brit’s confident form mixed with Fritz not having as much to play for this week could mean a very big win for Draper heading into next season.

Prediction: Draper in three sets.   

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