21-years-old British Jack Draper stunned the Sofia Open 2023’s top-seed Lorenzo Musetti at the Italian’s first appearance on the court in “Arena Sofia”. Draper recorded his seventh win in a row after winning the trophy in Bergamo Challenger last week and defeating Maximilian Merterer in the first round yesterday.
The young Sutton-born won the first set 7:5 and then dominated the second – 6:2, to win in straight sets. Draper won 89 per cent (31/35) of his first-serve points to advance one hour and 48 minutes.
Draper hit a career-high No. 38 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings in January following a semi-final run at the Adelaide 2. Injuries soon struck last year’s Next Gen ATP Finals semi-finalist this season. Draper reached the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open before an abdominal injury forced him to retire against Carlos Alcaraz. A shoulder injury suffered at Roland Garros forced him to miss three months of action, in which he could not compete at his home Slam, Wimbledon.
Draper quickly found a high level when he returned to action in August. The lefty reached the fourth round of a major tournament for the first time at the US Open. Then it made his Davis Cup debut, defeating Thanasi Kokkinakis en route to Great Britain’s 2-1 victory over Australia.
Draper started Sofia Open 2023 ranked #82, and hopes Sofia Open will help him to finish the year strong and build upon his momentum in 2024.
For Musetti, it was the second time he left after his first match in Sofia – in 2021, he was sent home by the local hero Dimitar Kuzmanov.
“Lorenzo is an amazing player, one of the top young players in the world, so I knew it would be a real challenger,” Draper said. “I started off a little slow but after that I found momentum and am proud of the way I played. I am feeling really confident, I am playing great tennis.”
The Turkish “wild card” Cem Ilkel won the second match in a row. He stunned the sixth seed – Max Purcell, 6:3 4:6, 6:4. The current world #259 became the third Turkish player who reached a quarterfinal in the Tour. Before him, Aiden did it in 1968 in Hobart and Ilhan in Dubai in 2015.
Ilkel will face Draper for a spot in his first-ever ATP Tour semi-final tomorrow.
On the bottom half of the draw Marton Fucsovics is going on his rout in try to reach once again Sofia Open final as he did in 2019. The Hungarian needed three sets to win Jurij Rodionov from Austria 3:6, 6:4, 6:1.
Pavel Kotov qualified for his fourth career ATP quarterfinal defeating the fourth seed Sebastian Baez. The Argentinian won the first set 6:3, but then had problems, lost the second in tie-break – 6:7 (4) and then withdrew.
Kotov will face Fuscovisc in his next match.
ORDER OF PLAY – THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 09, 2023
CENTER COURT start 11:00
[3] J. Cash (GBR) / N. Mektic (CRO) vs E. King (USA) / R. Stalder (USA)
Not Before 13:00
[3] J. Struff (GER) vs F. Marozsan (HUN)
Draper (GBR) vs [WC] C. Ilkel (TUR)
Not Before 18:00
[7] S. Ofner (AUT) vs [2] A. Mannarino (FRA)
[8] M. Fucsovics (HUN) or J. Rodionov (AUT) vs P. Kotov or [4] S. Baez (ARG)
COURT 1 start 13:00
Behar (URU) / A. Pavlasek (CZE) vs S. Bolelli (ITA) / M. Middelkoop (NED)
Not Before 15:00
[WC] Y. Milev (BUL) / P. Nesterov (BUL) vs G. Escobar (ECU) / A. Nedovyesov (KAZ) or [4] A. Erler (AUT) / L. Miedler (AUT)
Aafter suitable rest – A. Harris (AUS) / R. Hijikata (AUS) or M. Purcell (AUS) / J. Smith (AUS) vs A. Golubev (KAZ) / D. Molchanov (UKR)
