Jack Draper can't stop and won't stop winning indoors as the Brit extended his winning streak to 9 matches after beating Jan Lennard Struff at the 2023 Sofia Open.
The Brit is known as a very good indoor player and he's backing it up with a recent run. He won the Bergamo ATP Challenger comfortably, beating everyone, including David Goffin in the final, and is now continuing his winning streak in Sofia.
It's up to 9 after he bested Struff today, and it's going to be a maiden ATP final for Draper. Jannik Sinner won his maiden trophy in Sofia a few years ago, and he's had some good luck after that.
We'll see if Draper has a similar trajectory, but first, he needs to win it, of course. If he plays the way he did today, that shouldn't be a problem. Struff is a tricky player with a heavy game, but he couldn't handle Draper's relentless attacks in these slower conditions.
A faster court would have benefitted Struff a bit more because it would have made the serve more effective. The opening set was very competitive, actually, because Draper did rush a few times.
He settled on playing attacking tennis, and that type of approach is volatile. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. The good thing was that he was able to win those crucial rallies.
By the time the second set started, Draper had already saved 7 of 8 break points he faced, while Struff didn't save any of the two he faced. That's a massive difference that ultimately proved crucial in the match. The final score was 6-3 6-4 for Draper, who finished with eight aces.
He dominated on his first serve and attacked Struff's second serve with a lot of success. That proved enough, and he's into his maiden ATP final. The 21-year-old now awaits Pavel Kotov or Adrian Mannarino.