1 week Ago By Amos Murphy
Jack Draper huffed and puffed, but he wasn't able to blow the Monte-Carlo Masters house down with a tense round-three loss over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. Draper, whose unforced errors proved costly throughout the match, crashed out of the tournament after a 3-6, 7-6 (8-6), 4-6 loss to former finalist Davidovich Fokina. Having needed just an hour to see off Marcos Giron in his first match of the tournament, the clash against Davidovich Fokina almost certainly won't go down classic.
Draper, now up to sixth in the world rankings, failed to find his rhythm during a tetchy opening set, which his opponent took 3-6. The Brit had kept in touch with Davidovich Fokina for the first six games, but having been broken to midway through, the Spanish player was able to establish a healthy gap. Comprehensively using the first set in the end, Draper hadn't been afraid to let his emotions out, screaming "wake up" to himself after losing one of.
the six games to Davidovich Fokina. Visibly upset by the quality of his performance, Draper was able to channel those emotions into his tennis, eventually taking the second by virtue of a nail-biting tiebreak. During what was a bit of a 'to-me-to-you' set, it was Draper who was left chuckling in the end, as he broke with the final point of the tiebreak to level things up at one set apiece.
Chest out, eyes wide: it was clear the recent Indian Wells victor had rediscovered his swagger..
