Jack Draper’s return to the tour proved short-lived as he suffered a second round defeat to Arthur Rinderknech at the Dubai Tennis Championships after a long-term injury.
Two days after winning his first tour match since the US Open, the British No. 1 succumbed to the Frenchman after battling him for two hours and 26 minutes, 7-5 6-7(4) 6-4.
Trying to build on the first round victory over 68th-ranked Halys, Draper – now ranked 15th after reaching fourth place last year before suffering an injury – made a positive start but failed to grab his first two break points in the 11th game, giving Rinderknech the chance to take the opening set when it came in the following game.
Draper was under pressure early in the second but managed to get back into the match when he got to 3, saving three break points to go through and level the match by controlling the tiebreak.
However, it was Rinderknech who achieved the crucial breakthrough in the decider, from which Draper was unable to recover.
Rinderknech will now face Russian fifth seed Andrey Rublev in the quarter-finals of the ATP 500 event. In Dubai.
Tallon Greekpoor upset second-seeded Alexander Bublik 6-3 7-6(4) to seal his place in the quarter-finals. The Dutchman, ranked 25th, broke the world number 10 in the second game of the match and repeated that success on his return in the opening set.
In the second, groenpoor escaped at 0-40 to hold serve in the second game, before winning four of the last five points in the tie-break to seal the win.
Awaiting Greek track in the quarter-finals is Jakub Mensik, the sixth-seeded Czech who eased past Alexei Popyrin 6-3 6-2 for his 13th win of the season.
Four seeded players booked their last eight spots on Wednesday: Daniil Medvedev, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Andrey Rublev and Jiri Lehecka.
(Photo by Albert Perez/Getty Images)
Third seed and former champion (2023) Medvedev kicked off the day’s action by ending the career of 2016 champion Stan Wawrinka in Dubai with a 6-2 6-3 win and will next face Jenson Brooksby after the American upset seventh seed Karen Khachanov 7-6 (6) 6-4.
“I think [I’m moving in the right direction]” said Medvedev after taking his 11th tour-level win of the year. “Two good games [so far in Dubai]. Convincing in the score, that is sometimes more important. I have more time mentally to prepare for the next round and I’m looking forward to it.”
Top seed Auger-Aliassime thumped big-serving Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard for a 6-4 6-4 win, and the Canadian world number 8 will next face eighth-seeded Lehecka who defeated qualifier Pablo Carreno Busta 7-6(6) 6-4.
Dubai winner and 2022 fifth seed Rublev was forced to dig deep for his place in the last eight, but ultimately beat another former champion Ugo Humbert 6-4 6-7(5) 6-3 to advance to face Arthur Rinderknech.
“I just tried to do my job,” Rublev said after his two-hour, 23-minute victory. “I tried to play my tennis and keep doing the things I was doing. As soon as I got the chance to play aggressively, I tried to go to the net, focus on my serve, serve hard and put pressure on his return, which wasn’t easy because he served super hard.”
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