Monte-Carlo Masters: Hurkacz battles past Draper to book spot in second round

Hubert Hurkacz came through an entertaining tussle with Jack Draper, edging out the Briton 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (2) in the first round of the Monte-Carlo Masters.

In closely fought contest, two breaks to Draper’s one was enough for Hurkacz to seal the opening set before the big-hitting Briton struck back in the second to even up the score.

Fresh from his first clay-court title in Estoril last week, the Pole gained the advantage in the decider with an early break of serve to eventually lead 5-3.

But Draper gave the Monaco crowd an entertaining finish to a gripping match, as held serve before breaking Hurkacz as he’d attempted to serve out the win.

A tiebreak was required, but it was the Pole who played the tidier tennis of the two in that deciding breaker, with many unforced errors from Draper at the crucial juncture proving costly.

Hurkacz sealed the win after a backhand from Draper hit the net, and he will go on to face Spanish qualifier Roberto Bautista Agut next.

Monte-Carlo Masters 1000, other first-round results (Monte-Carlo Country Club, clay, EUR 5.950.575, most recent results first):

• Gael Monfils vs. Aleksandar Vukic
• Nicolas Jarry vs. Tomas Martin Etcheverry: tuesday
• Miomir Kecmanovic beat Matteo Berrettini (WC): 6-3, 6-1
• Sebastian Korda beat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina: 6-1, 6-2
• Roberto Bautista Agut beat Facundo Diaz Acosta (LL): 6-2, 6-4
• Zhizhen Zhang beat Marcos Giron: 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
• Alex De Minaur (11) beat Stan Wawrinka (WC): 6-3, 6-0
• Ugo Humbert (14) beat Federico Coria (Q): 4-6, 6-1, 6-2
• Roman Safiullin beat Jaume Munar (Q): 7-5, 6-1
• Karen Khachanov (15) beat Cameron Norrie: 7-5, 7-6 (3)
• Arthur Fils beat Yannick Hanfmann (LL): 6-0, 6-2
• Alejandro Tabilo beat Christopher O’Connell (Q): 6-3, 6-4
• Stefanos Tsitsipas (12) beat Laslo Djere: 6-3, 3-2 ret.
• Grigor Dimitrov (9) beat Valentin Vacherot (WC): 7-5, 6-2
• Francisco Cerundolo beat Daniel Altmaier (LL): 6-2, 7-6 (3)
• Sumit Nagal (Q) beat Matteo Arnaldi: 5-7, 6-2, 6-4
• Sebastian Ofner beat Daniel Evans: 6-1, 6-4
• Felix Auger-Aliassime beat Luca Nardi (Q): 6-2, 6-3
• Alexei Popyrin beat Corentin Moutet (Q): 3-6, 7-5, 6-2
• Lorenzo Musetti beat Taylor Fritz (13): 6-4, 6-4
• Borna Coric beat Alexander Bublik (16): 6-1, 6-1
• Tallon Griekspoor beat Dominik Koepfer: 7-6 (2), 4-6, 6-2
• Jan-Lennard Struff beat Sebastian Baez: 1-6, 7-6 (3), 6-2