Jack Draper faced a spirited challenge from Tomas Machac in the 2024 Vienna Open quarter-finals, but he still emerged victorious from the match.
The British player recently couldn't follow up on his sensational run to the semi-finals of the US Open. Draper got injured at the Japan Open in Tokyo, and as a result, he was forced to withdraw from the Shanghai Masters.
However, it seems that he won't miss the last part of the season, as he's back on the tennis courts and looking like a proper challenger for an ATP 500 title in Vienna.
Draper already has experience playing in an ATP 250 final, losing his first two in Sofia and Adelaide, before lifting his maiden Tour-level title at the Stuttgart Open this year.
At the ATP 500 level, he played one semi-final. It came at this year's Mexican Open in Acapulco, and despite forcing the third set in his match against the eventual champion Alex de Minaur, Draper was forced to retire in the third set.
Now, he will get a chance to play in his second ATP 500 semi-final, and it will come in Vienna after he outplayed an inspired Tomas Machac, who has been showing some inspired level in recent weeks.
The Czech player stunned Carlos Alcaraz at the Shanghai Masters, and he bested Grigor Dimitrov in the second round of the Vienna Open to set up this meeting with the seventh seed in the Austrian capital.
Draper, on the other hand, played two very solid matches to find himself in the quarter-final. He first bested Kei Nishikori, before also outplaying Luciano Darderi, both in two sets.
His quarter-final match, however, was much more challenging, even though it didn't look like it early on. Already in his first return game, Draper was able to break his opponent's serve, leading 3-0 early in the match.
He then had to save two break points but did that with ease, winning eight consecutive points on his serve to win the opening set of the match, 6-3.
But Machac's level was once again outstanding, which meant that he got himself to five more break points in the second set. Although he didn't use his chances four and five, which came in the sixth game, he used his third break point of the set in the second game, and even without converting one of those two additional, he was on his way to winning the set.
Like his opponent in the first set, Machac had to save two break points to win the set, but he did. The Czech player won the second set of the match 6-3 to force the decider in Vienna.
Machac had a break point in the first game of the third set, but that was the last chance he saw in the match. Draper turned up the heat after that, hitting 13 winners in the third set while also winning 89% of the rallies after his first serve.
He was just the superior player, and that resulted in a relatively easy three-set win, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1. The win meant that Draper reached his second ATP 500 semi-final. This time, he will play against the winner of the match between Alexander Zverev and Lorenzo Musetti.
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