Jack Draper and Dan Evans advance to book Frances Tiafoe and Stefanos Tsitsipas tests at Paris Masters 2022

ByMichael Hincks

Updated 01/11/2022 at 13:51 GMT

It was a British double on Tuesday afternoon as both Jack Draper and Dan Evans advanced to the second round in Bercy. Draper won his first-ever Paris Masters match against Arthur Rinderknech and goes on to face Frances Tiafoe next in the ATP 1000 event. Meanwhile, Dan Evans dispatched Brandon Nakashima and takes on Stefanos Tsitsipas for a place in the third round.

Jack Draper recorded an impressive victory over Arthur Rinderknech to reach the second round of the Paris Masters, where he will face Frances Tiafoe.

World No. 45 Draper, playing at this first Paris Masters, is ranked three places below Rinderknech but proved why he is a player on the rise with a dominant performance on Tuesday.

Draper, who narrowly lost to world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz in Basel last week, advanced with a 6-3 6-4 victory in Bercy.

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His quality rarely dipped throughout the 92-minute victory against the Frenchman.

A break in the sixth game of the first set was the difference between the two players before Draper broke again midway through the second set.

A tense 10th game ensued, but after saving two break points Draper managed to convert his second match point to progress.

He meets No. 16 seed Tiafoe, who had beaten qualifier Lorenzo Sonego, 6-4 6-4, to reach the second round himself.

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Earlier in the day, Dan Evans booked a second-round meeting with No. 5 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas after grinding out a three-set victory against American Brandon Nakashima – his first-ever win in Paris.

Evans crucially converted half of his break opportunities (3/6) compared to Nakashima’s rate of 2/8.

Two breaks in the first set helped Evans clinch the opener 6-3, and though Nakashima responded in kind in the second set, it was the Briton who edged ahead after a break in the fifth game.

Evans initially had two match points on Nakashima’s serve, but then converted his first chance a game later to clinch it 6-4 and reach the next round after two hours and eight minutes.

British No. 1 Cameron Norrie could await the winner of Evans’ match with Tsitsipas.

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Andrey Rublev boosted his hopes of reaching the ATP Finals with a 6-2 6-3 victory over John Isner in the second round.

Rublev is currently seventh in the Race to Turin and is looking to outperform Taylor Fritz and Hubert Hurkacz in Paris, where he could face the latter in the third round.

"It is a really important win at this moment when I am fighting for Turin," Rublev said.

"I think I was a bit lucky. It was his first tournament since his bad injury. From the baseline I was feeling really confident. As soon as I was returning and the ball was in play, I felt I had an advantage and wasn't nervous."

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