Jack Draper, wearing a crew cut and a sleeveless vest, put in a strong performance on his return to the Tour after eight months of injury.
“I have longed for the feeling of competing for a long time Jack Draper
Fourth seed, the British No. 1, who contributed one win in Team GB’s Davis Cup qualifier in early February, defeated qualifier Quentin Halys 7-6(8) 6-3 on his debut at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
The 24-year-old, who has fallen to 15th in the world rankings after being ranked fourth when a serious shoulder injury struck at Wimbledon, will next face Arthur Rinderknech who defeated Fabian Marozsan 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.
“I’ve longed for the feeling of competing for a long time,” Draper said in his post-match interview.
“It just felt normal, it felt like I was getting back to doing what I love, which is being here, competing and feeling the adrenaline of winning and losing points.
“Many people helped me get back into this position after many bad moments [during] the last eight months.
“It wasn’t easy being back here and that’s something I can be very proud of. Long may it continue.”
Draper suffered a bruised bone in his service arm during his clay-court swing last April, and the problem continued to worsen to the point that he had to take time off his US Open season.
He also missed the Australian swing to ensure the injury had cleared up properly and although he had a protective surgical compression sleeve on his serving arm, he showed no signs of physical problems, although it may have taken him some time to adapt during the opener, saving a set point when serving 5-4 down.
He held his nerve in a tight 18-point tiebreak by winning back-to-back points here and overcoming an 8-7 deficit.
The first break of service came in the fourth game of the second set when Halys hit wide at the 68th to give Draper a 3-1 lead.
Draper had no more problems from then on, conceding just two more points on serve as he finished the match with 24 winners, 19 of which came from his forehand.
In other action on Monday, 2016 Dubai winner Stan Wawrinka recorded his sixth consecutive opening round win by beating Benjamin Hassan 7-5 6-3.
The Swiss star will next face third seed and 2023 champion Daniil Medvedev, who defeated Shang Juncheng 6-1 6-3.
(Photo by Rene Nijhuis/MB Media/Getty Images)
Top-seeded Felix Auger Aliassime was given a tough time by Zhang Zhizhen before beating the Chinese player 6-3 7-6(4) on his sixth match point.
Last year the Canadian advanced to the Dubai final before falling to an inspired Stefanos Tsitsipas and he is determined not to be denied this time.
“I stopped counting at one point, it became too frustrating,” Auger-Aliassime said of the missed match points. “Having match points is the position you want to be in as a player, but it’s strange how the mind plays tricks on you. No matter how much further away I am from losing than him, he should be the one tight. But I said to myself, ‘If there’s a third set, I’ll be there’.”
With his speed and coverage on the court, Auger-Aliassime saved all four break points he faced. He missed two match points on the return at 5-4 and three at 6-5 in the second set, but produced a clinical response in the tiebreak.
Auger-Aliassime will next face French great Giovanni Mpetshi Prricard, a qualifier, who previously defeated Tunisian wildcard Moez Echargui 7-6(3) 6-7(3) 7-6(4)
Meanwhile, last year’s champion Tsitsipas crashed out at the hands of another Frenchman, 2024 champion Ugo Humbert, 6-4 7-5 in 86 minutes.
In what was a tense encounter, Humber crucially took the only break in each set despite a strong serve from the Greek star.
“I think it was a big battle on serve,” said world number 37 Humbert. “We served very well from the beginning to the end. I was a bit lucky. In the last game at 5-4 I made a double fault, but when I had opportunities I took them. I am happy with this first victory, because Stef is a great player.”
Humbert is now 7-1 in Dubai, where he will next face another former titlist, Andrey Rublev, who eased past Valentin Royer 6-3 6-4
Alexander Bublik and Karen Khachaov were also early winners on Tuesday. Second seed Bublik ousted Jan-Lennard Struf 6-3 6-4 and will face Tallon Greekpoor for a quarter-final spot after the Dutchman defeated qualifier Otto Virtanen 6-3 6-4.
Seventh seed Khachanov eased past Aleksander Shevchenko 6-7(5) 6-2 6-3 to advance against Jenson Brooksby, a 6-3 6-4 winner against Zizou Bergs.
Jakub Mensik defeated Hubert Hurkacz 6-4 7-6(7). The sixth-seeded Czech will meet Alexei Popyrin for a place in the quarter-finals after the Australian defeated Kamil Majchrzak 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.
#Dubai #Draper #return