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Draper beats Tsitsipas, Evans overcomes Rublev at Canadian Open

Draper beats Tsitsipas, Evans overcomes Rublev at Canadian Open
© Reuters
Great Britain's Jack Draper advances to the third round of the Canadian Open alongside Dan Evans and Cameron Norrie after beating Stefanos Tsitsipas in straight sets.

British youngster Jack Draper claimed another memorable scalp in the 2022 season as he defeated world number five Stefanos Tsitsipas in the second round of the Canadian Open.

The 20-year-old eased past fellow qualifier Hugo Gaston in the first round before being paired with third seed Tsitsipas, whose glut of errors would cost him in a straight-sets defeat.

Draper won 7-5 7-6 [7-4] on the night, as his Greek counterpart could not kick on after losing the mini-break in the tie-break, posting 36 unforced errors in total during the contest.

World number 82 Draper - who will now meet Gael Monfils of France in the third round - said on the court: "This is why I put in all the hard work, for nights like this on stages like this.

"Last week [after] Washington, me and my coach probably were thinking we weren't even going to come here. We were going to maybe train a week, get a bit of confidence. But it paid off coming.

"I didn't really have much of a game plan. I just thought I needed to play good tennis to beat Stefanos. He's at the top of the game for a reason. [He's] someone I've looked up to the last few years. It's just good to be out here and try to express myself on this stage."

Dan Evans in action at the Canadian Open on August 10, 2022© Reuters

Draper was one of three British men to march on to the third round on Wednesday evening, as Dan Evans marched to a two-set success over Russian fifth seed Andrey Rublev.

Posting a stellar 85% win rate on his first serve, the world number 39 took three of the five break points available to him in the match to win 6-4 6-4 and set up a third-round battle with Taylor Fritz.

Evans and Draper will also be joined in the third round by British number one Cameron Norrie, who also enjoyed a straight-sets victory in far simpler fashion against Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands.

Despite only posting two aces compared to Van de Zandschulp's six, Norrie eased to a 6-1 6-2 victory on Court Rogers, with his Dutch counterpart only managing a 19% win rate on his second serve.

Home favourite Felix Auger-Aliassime will await Norrie in the third round after closing the day's action with a 7-6 [8-6] 6-4 win over Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka, and there were more shocks to be had on Wednesday.

Defending champion Daniil Medvedev will soon lose his grip on the crown after a 7-6 [7-1] 4-6 2-6 defeat to Wimbledon runner-up Nick Kyrgios, while second seed Carlos Alcaraz Garfia was beaten in three sets by Tommy Paul.

In the women's tournament, Serena Williams's run came to an end in a 2-6 4-6 defeat to Belinda Bencic as she prepares to retire after the US Open, while Iga Swiatek, Simona Halep and 2021 champion Camila Giorgi - who beat Emma Raducanu in round one - all advanced.

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Written by
Ben Knapton

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