Jack Draper ousts top seed Lorenzo Musetti to reach Sofia Open quarter-finals - 'I'm playing great tennis'

ByAlasdair Mackenzie

Published 08/11/2023 at 21:24 GMT

After a season disrupted by injury, Britain's Jack Draper is finishing strongly. Fresh off winning a Challenger title in Bergamo on Sunday, the 21-year-old knocked out top seed Lorenzo Musetti to reach the quarter-finals of the ATP 250 event in Sofia with a straight-sets win. However, fellow Brit Billy Harris bowed out against Jan-Lennard Struff the day after earning his first main draw tour win.

Jack Draper reached his seventh tour-level quarter-final at the Sofia Open by knocking out top seed Lorenzo Musetti to continue his strong recent form.

The 21-year-old won 7-5 6-2 in one hour and 48 minutes to set up a last-eight clash with Turkish wild card Cem Ilkel.

The start of Draper’s season has been disrupted by injury problems, but the British youngster has finished strongly, particularly during a run to the last 16 at the US Open in September.

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He defeated Thanasi Kokkinakis in Britain’s Davis Cup clash with Australia later that month before reaching two Challenger finals, losing in Orleans but beating David Goffin in the Bergamo final on Sunday.

Draper then knocked out Germany’s Maximilian Marterer in the first round in Sofia before taking down the top seed from Italy.

"Lorenzo is an amazing player, one of the top young players in the world, so I knew it would be a real challenge," Draper said.

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"I started off a little slow but after that I found momentum and I am proud of the way I played. I am feeling really confident, I am playing great tennis."

Draper dominated on serve against Musetti, winning 89% of his first serve points, but got off to an ominous start when he was broken in the opening game.

But he battled back from 4-2 down in the first set, breaking back to draw level before finding a second break at the perfect moment as Musetti was serving to try and set up a tie-break.

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The Brit made shorter work of the second set, holding a mammoth 15-minute opening game before immediately breaking, and he went on to break again in the final game of a 6-2 set.

Draper landed seven aces and won 72% of his service points overall in an impressive display.

However, his compatriot Billy Harris bowed out with a 7-6(5) 6-4 defeat to third seed Jan-Lennard Struff at the ATP 250 event.

Harris earned the first tour-level main draw win of his career at the age of 28 on Tuesday by beating fellow qualifier Marc-Andrea Huesler in three sets.

But any hopes of a surprising run were ended by Struff, who set up a quarter-final against Fabian Marozsan.

Second seed Adrian Mannarino also made it through by beating Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-4 6-4 to set up a clash with Sebastian Ofner, who defeated Christopher O’Connell.

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