Jack Draper started out wonderfully, but he was then outplayed by a very inspired Christopher O'Connell at the 2024 Indian Wells Open.
It was a frustrating affair for the Brit, who, all things considered, really didn't have a great day. He even had a really good opening set at the first ATP Masters 1000 tournament of the season, beating his opponent 6-1, but things went downhill after that.
Everything was working for Draper in that set, and he was able to survive 13 winners from the Australian. The problem for O'Connell was largely not finding his best when he needed to.
All the crucial rallies went to the British no. 2, who served better and navigated those crucial rallies better. The second set was quite different, as Draper gave up his serve almost immediately, which was a problem for him.
It gave O'Connell the confidence to really crawl his way back into the match. Draper was quite unfortunate at times in the rest of the match, as he was with his latest physical problems, but his opponent firmly outplayed him.
That was particularly the case in the final set, which O'Connell finished on a 6-0 run, no less. Draper actually got a perfect gift from O'Connell to start that final set, as the Australian played a bad game to give up his serve early.
The Brit was up 2-0 with a perfect chance to win the match. However, he didn't because he couldn't really create much in the last set of the match. The slow court and tennis balls made his serve much weaker than it usually is.
He barely created any pressure with it, and it's a crucial part of his game. He couldn't play well enough in the rallies, as he was regularly outplayed by his opponent, but he did find some impressive winners at times.
Draper seeingly also struggled with the weather a bit as he's not used to as much sun as O'Connell. All in all, it was a 6-1, 3-6, 2-6 loss for him.