Draper edges high-quality tussle with Musetti to reach Madrid final
The British player is into another Masters 1000 final, this time on clay
Jack Draper (Laurent Lairys/PSNewz)
Jack Draper underlined his new Top 5 credentials, reaching the final of the Mutua Madrid Open with a 6-3, 7-6 (4) win over Lorenzo Musetti.
Throughout, he hit brilliantly from the baseline, and even when Musetti took the scoreboard lead in the second set after serving first, he never wavered. He underlined that in the tiebreak when he dropped only a single point on her serve.
He now faces Casper Ruud in the final on Sunday having not dropped a set throughout the tournament, and knowing that he is the man on court with a Masters 1000 title to his credit, while the Norwegian has lost his two previous matches at that level.
However, it will be Draper’s first ATP Tour final on clay, secured with his second win on the surface against a player ranked in the Top 20.
“Credit to Lorenzo, he’s playing so good on clay,” Draper said afterwards.
“To get this win on this court, in the semi-finals of this competition, it means so much to me.”
He and Andy Murray are now the only British men to reach ATP Masters 1000 finals on clay and hard courts.
And Draper also stands second in the Race to Turin – not bad for someone who was ranked outside the Top 40 this time last year.
Draper applauded his opponent off the court; Musetti now stands at 10-2 on clay this season, with just this defeat and a loss to Carlos Alcaraz in the Monte-Carlo final on the wrong side of that equation. However, he too will reach a new career-best ranking next week, breaking the Top 10 for the first time.
