Jack Draper has booked a showdown with second seed Hubert Hurkacz at the Japan Open after easing through his first round match on Thursday.
Playing in his first match since reaching the US Open semi-finals earlier this month, Draper brushed aside Mattia Bellucci 6-4, 6-2, in just over 70 minutes. The world No.20 hit 23 winners against 15 unforced errors and won 90% (27/30) of his first service points.
“I’m really happy with my first round win today,” Draper told atptour.com afterward. “I love playing here at the Japan Open. It’s an amazing tournament, an amazing city. I appreciate all the people that are supporting me and I look forward to hopefully competing well for the rest of the tournament.”
Draper is currently at a ranking high of No.20 in the world and has beaten two top 10 players so far this season. He now has a chance to get his third such win in the second round when he faces Hurkacz, who is currently in eighth position on the PIF ATP rankings. Hurkacz began his Tokyo campaign on Wednesday with a three set win over Marcos Giron.
Elsewhere, Stefanos Tsitsipas’ struggles on the Tour continues after he suffered a shock 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 first-round loss to American Alex Michelsen. It is the fourth singles tournament in a row that the Greek have failed to win back-to-back matches. In recent weeks Tsitsipas has spoken openly about his struggles in the sport after deciding to remove his father as his coach. After getting knocked out of the US Open, the two-time Grand Slam finalist said he was ‘nothing compared to the player he was before.”
Another casualty is Frances Tiafoe who was stopped in his tracks by Brandon Nakashima who beat the seventh seed 7-5, 6-3. Nakashima has recently enjoyed a surge in form on the Tour after reaching the last 16 in Flushing Meadows and then the semi-finals of the Hangzhou Open last week.
Ben Shelton avoided an upset by fighting back from a set down to beat Reilly Opelka 3-6, 6-1, 6-4. Fifth seed Tommy Paul beat Matteo Arnaldi 6-3 6-2, while Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka outlasted Felix Auger-Aliassime 7-6 (5), 3-6, 7-6(5).
