Cincinnati Masters: Clutch Draper sends Tsitsipas home

Jack Draper edged out Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, the No 9 seed, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 to reach the last 16 of the Cincinnati Masters at the Lindner Family Tennis Center on Thursday evening.

Tsitsipas served for the match at 5-4 in the third set, but Draper found his range at the perfect time, winning 12 of the final 17 points in the match to book his spot in the round of 16 in Cincinnati.

The win is Draper’s fourth top-20 scalp of the season, and sees his record against Tsitsipas improve to 2-0. Another victory would see the Brit achieve a new career-high next Monday, with the 22-year-old already up to No 27 in the live rankings.

Tsitsipas, meanwhile, blew a prime chance to re-enter the world’s top 10, and will be left ruing his chances in a match where he sprayed 23 unforced errors – including seven double faults – and only converted two of six break points.

Draper, ranked No 27, will play the winner of the match between Norwegian Casper Ruud, the No 7 seed, and Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime next.

In the previous round of the Cincy Open, Jack Draper edged out Spanish qualifier Jaume Munar (7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (5)).

Tsitsipas, ranked No 11, beat German Jan-Lennard Struff (4-6, 6-4, 6-3) in the previous round of the Cincy Open.

Cincinnati Masters 1000, other second-round results (Lindner Family Tennis Center, hard, USD 6.795.555, most recent results first):

• Casper Ruud vs. Felix Auger-Aliassime
• Gael Monfils vs. Carlos Alcaraz
• Holger Rune (15) beat Nuno Borges (Q): 6-3, 7-6 (8)
• Ben Shelton (12) beat Tomas Martin Etcheverry: 6-7 (6), 7-6 (7), 6-3
• Brandon Nakashima (WC) beat Arthur Fils: 7-5, 7-6 (3)
• Andrey Rublev (6) beat Zhizhen Zhang: 6-4, 6-3
• Fabian Marozsan beat Grigor Dimitrov (8): 4-6, 6-4, 6-3
• Pablo Carreno Busta beat Max Purcell (WC): 6-3, 6-3
• Hubert Hurkacz (5) beat Yoshihito Nishioka (Q): 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-1
• Flavio Cobolli beat Luciano Darderi: 7-6 (4), 3-1 ret.
• Alexander Zverev (3) beat Karen Khachanov: 6-3, 6-2
• Jiri Lehecka beat Daniil Medvedev (4): 7-6 (2), 6-4
• Jordan Thompson beat Sebastian Baez: 6-2, 6-4
• Frances Tiafoe beat Lorenzo Musetti (14): 6-3, 6-2
• Jannik Sinner (1) beat Alex Michelsen (Q): 6-4, 7-5