Updated Jack Draper into maiden grand slam quarter-final at US Open

admin admin | 09-03 08:16

Jack Draper booked his place in a first career grand slam quarter-final as he demolished Tomas Machac in the US Open fourth round.

Draper has always loved playing in New York, where the fast courts help his style, and he will now be dreaming big, having yet to drop a set in his opening four matches.

The Briton will be hoping to emulate compatriot Emma Raducanu, who flew under the radar to win the tournament in 2021.

While that still remains a tough task, arguably this is his best chance yet of winning a grand slam, with Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic already out and questions still remaining over Jannik Sinner following his anti-doping scandal.

He will have to overcome much bigger hurdles than the one Czech player Machac presented as Draper swept to a 6-3 6-1 6-2 victory, underpinned by a run of 16 games out of 19.

Whatever happens next he is the first British man to reach the last eight since Andy Murray in 2016.
Draper was supported throughout by Vogue editor Anna Wintour, who sat in his box. While she might not have approved of his fuchsia pink shirt, she will have been impressed by his dominant display.

It was at 3-3 in the first set where the tide turned completely in the British number one's favour as three unforced errors from Machac handed him the break.

That was the second of seven successive games, which gave him dominance in the second set.
Draper was not having to play out of his skin, but was solid on his serve and just had to wait for Machac to spray the ball about, or hit double faults.

The Czech continued to do both regularly, allowing Draper to get a complete stranglehold on the match, winning in straight sets in one hour 44 minutes.

Daniil Medvedev returns a shot against Nuno Borges

Daniil Medvedev barely broke a sweat as he brushed aside unseeded Nuno Borges 6-0 6-1 6-3 at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Fifth seed Medvedev is the only former champion left in the men's draw and the clash was a one-sided contest where Borges, playing in a Grand Slam fourth round for only the second time in his career, had no answers to the Russian's power.

The manner of the victory was a far cry from the same stage at the Australian Open where Borges managed to take a set off Medvedev but here he made 10 double faults and 51 unforced errors.

"To be honest, he played worse (than in Melbourne)," Medvedev said. "Even by the stats he made a lot of unforced errors, a lot of double faults. Everyone is doing double faults here, probably something to do with condition of the balls.

"Especially in some games, it was maybe two or three so this gives you an easy break. I managed again to serve much better than the days before, so I didn't give him this opportunity to break back. It's a little bit of extra pressure."

Medvedev, the 2021 champion, whitewashed Borges in the opening set, toying with the Portuguese who was no match for the towering Russian's powerful baseline returns and his movement at the net.

Medvedev lost only 11 points in the opening set but Borges finally got on the board in the second set, earning a round of applause as he went 1-0 up.

But the rest of the set was more of the same as Borges made several unforced errors and Medvedev took a two-set lead.

The crowd did get behind Borges, who briefly flipped the script and took the lead in the third set.

But a fire alarm led to a brief pause in play which gave the Russian time to recover and he won five of the next six games to wrap up the contest.

"Strange experience but it did help me because the next two points I felt like he started to get the momentum and this broke it a little bit," Medvedev said.

The Russian will next play either top seed Jannik Sinner, who beat him in the Australian Open final before he exacted revenge at Wimbledon, or American Tommy Paul.

"I will try to think more about Wimbledon than the Australian Open," Medvedev said with a smile.

"If it's him who wins against Tommy, hopefully we can have a great match. I know if I want to beat him, I need to be at my best."

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