Draper Breaks New Ground In Sofia, Matches Murray’s Record

Jack Draper became the youngest Briton to reach an ATP Tour final since Andy Murray in 2009 when he defeated third-seeded German Jan-Lennard Struff 6-3, 6-4 on Friday at the Sofia Open.

The 21-year-old played front-foot tennis throughout the 84-minute clash, firing 10 aces to extend his winning streak to nine matches at all levels, having triumphed at an ATP Challenger Tour event in Italy last week.

“He is a player who has had an incredible year, won a lot of matches. I had to really dig deep today and I am proud of my performance,” Draper said. “I have made a couple of semi-finals and came short and especially after the year with the injuries and wanting to be back stronger, I have really achieved that and my game is in a great place.”

Draper has yet to drop a set all week in Sofia and is up 22 spots to No. 60 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings following his 19th tour-level win of the season.

The lefty, who reached tour-level semi-finals in Eastbourne (2022) and in Adelaide (2023), will face Frenchman Adrian Mannarino in the final on Saturday at the ATP 250.

Mannarino moved past Pavel Kotov 6-2, 7-6(2) to move to within one win of his third tour-level title of the season. The second seed, who has earned a personal-best 42 tour-level wins this year, saved the one break point he faced to advance to his fourth final of 2023 after 87 minutes.

Earlier this year, the World No. 25 won trophies in Newport and Astana.

Did You Know?
A then-21-year-old Murray advanced to his maiden tour-level title match in Miami in 2009.