By Anshu Taneja
Jack Draper reaches uncharted territory and is the last Brit standing in the men’s draw.
Draper dropped his first set of the tournament but still put in a wonderfully controlled and mature performance to beat Micheal Mmoh 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 and now plays Andrey Rublev for a place in the quarter finals.
Powerful lefty Draper sneaked the first set after breaking serve when 5-4 ahead, but stormed to a 4-0 lead in the second set. With his eyes set on the fourth round for the first time it was perhaps inevitable the 20-year-old would have a lapse in concentration somewhere, and Mmoh, ranked 89th, broke early in the third and held throughout.
But the young Brit regrouped well and trusted his powerful serve and forehand to put his American opponent under constant pressure, and won the fourth with 52 winners overall to close out the contest in just over three hours.
After the match Draper admitted he was proud with his performance, “I was proud of the way I went out there,” Draper said in her press conference.
“I don’t think I played my best tennis necessarily, but, I mean, I guess that’s what tennis is about, trying to get over the line when you’re not quite at your best. But like I said, he made it really difficult for me.
“He came out firing in the third set, and luckily, you know, I took my chance in the fourth. I’m glad with the win. To come here this week and to play the way I have and to compete the way I have and for my body to hold up has been, it’s been pretty special for me, really.”
Meanwhile British number two Dan Evans put up a brave performance but went down fighting in a 2-6, 3-6, 6-4, 3-6 loss to world number one Carlos Alcaraz.
The first set alone took 47 minutes as Evans defended multiple breakpoints against his Spanish net-rushing opponent. Defending champion Alcaraz, who held a 2-0 head-head record with wins on the Barcelona clay earlier this year as well as the indoor hard courts in Vienna two years ago, played aggressively again in the second set and broke three times and took a two-set lead.
But the third set was where the real battle took place and neither man could break serve – until the mammoth seventh game which also featured a contender for point of the tournament with tweeners and deft volleys. Evans held his emotions together and broke serve and soon after only just crept over the line with his fifth set point to take the set 6-4.
But the world number one was not to be denied, and stayed tough to come through and now plays Italian Matteo Arnaldi for the first time in the next round.
Cameron Norrie, out on Court 17 on a packed Saturday schedule, failed in his bid to play Alcaraz in the fourth round by losing in straight sets to 16th seeded Arnaldi.
Norrie’s failure to convert his breakpoints along with a huge unforced error count cost him dearly and though he played well in parts, it ultimately wasn’t enough in a disappointing 3-6, 4-6, 3-6 defeat.
Arnaldi, who has never before reached the fourth round of any Grand Slam, covered the court effortlessly with skids and slides to all parts, and displayed superb variety to nullify Norrie’s baseline game – and now picks up the biggest pay cheque of his fledgling career.
