Draper Wears Down Thiem To Reach Winston-Salem QFs

Jack Draper has lived up to his billing as the 13th seed in his Winston-Salem Open debut by beating two big-name players who have spent a large chunk of their ATP Tour careers playing with a number next to their name on the draw sheet.

After a three-set victory against Fabio Fognini, the #NextGenATP Briton overwhelmed Dominic Thiem in a 6-1, 6-4 Wednesday win to reach the quarter-finals at the ATP 250. It’s Draper’s third quarter-final of the season after runs to the Eastbourne semis and the Montreal quarter-finals.

“I was really good behind serve, really solid,” he said post-match. “In the second set it was tough because he was coming up with some amazing shots. It was a real honour to be on court with Dominic. He’s an amazing player.”

In his first ATP Head2Head meeting with Thiem, the 20-year-old raced to a 5-0 lead in the opening set and did not face a break point in the 80-minute match. The Austrian picked up his aggression in the second set, approaching the net 12 times, but also hit six double faults as he took more risk on his delivery. 

“I started confidently, I started well,” said Draper. “I was hitting through the ball, felt good in the conditions. It was a difficult start because I felt like everyone was supporting Dominic and I knew that I needed to come out confidently and sharp, and that’s what I did.”

Thiem saved two break points at 2-2 in the second set and another at 3-3 but Draper’s pressure told in the ninth game of the match. Despite two roped returns from Thiem to create a 15/30 opening, the Briton held his nerve to close it out without further drama.

Finishing a clean performance with 10 winners and four unforced errors, Draper next faces the winner of the stadium court evening finale between 11th seed Ilya Ivashka and Marc-Andrea Huesler.

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Fourth seed Maxime Cressy and 14th seed Lorenzo Sonego contested Wednesday’s most dramatic match, with the American owning the tie-breaks in a 6-7(4), 6-2, 7-6(3) win. Cressy was broken just once in the match on the only break point against him as he surrendered an early lead in the deciding set. But he did not drop a point on serve in the deciding tie-break after dropping just one service point in the opening tie-break.

Cressy will meet Adrian Mannarino in the quarter-finals after the Frenchman’s 6-3, 6-3 upset against eighth seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas.

Second seed Botic van de Zandschulp continued his efficient march through the Winston-Salem draw with a 6-3, 6-3 win against 15th seed Jaume Munar. He has not dropped a set in two matches this week and will look to extend that streak against 10th seed Benjamin Bonzi, a 7-5, 6-2 winner against Thiago Monteiro.

Both Richard Gasquet and Laslo Djere have required a deciding set in all three of their wins this week and will now meet each other in a quarter-final that will test the fitness of both men. Gasquet’s latest three-set win was a 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-3 decision against American Steve Johnson, while Djere was a 7-6(4), 6-7(9), 6-3 winner against Jason Kubler.