British number one Jack Draper reached his fourth ATP Tour final and first on the ATP 500 circuit with a gruelling two-set win over Italian sixth seed Lorenzo Musetti in Saturday's semi-final.
The 22-year-old's physical struggles reared their ugly heads late on as he made hard work of the second set, but he eventually came through 6-2 6-4 in one hour and 48 minutes to make a third championship match of the year.
The US Open semi-finalist had the upper hand against an error-strewn Musetti straight off the bat with a break in the opening game, although he initially struggled on his second serve as his Italian foe broke back with an unbelievable backhand winner.
That was not a sign of things to come for Musetti, though, as he reverted to the wild and wide backhands that plagued him at the start, allowing Draper to break twice more in the first set before a ferocious first serve clinched the opener.
In the second set, it was Draper's turn to break first with his own wonderful backhand that just clipped the line, and an increasingly frustrated Musetti could not help but slam his racquet after missing forehand after forehand.
The sixth seed was asking far more questions of Draper on serve, though, and after the Briton made it through two taxing service games, he was eventually broken in the eighth as a resurgent Musetti levelled the contest.
However, Musetti was once again his own worst enemy in the ninth game, making a series of mistakes to gift Draper his easiest break of the day before the British number one served out the match.
Katie Boulter loses to former Grand Slam winner in Tokyo semi-final
Katie Boulter is beaten by former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin in the Pan Pacific Open semi-final ❌ pic.twitter.com/r1sxERhmpi
— Sky Sports Tennis (@SkySportsTennis) October 26, 2024
Draper - who is now up to 15th in the ATP Live Rankings - will face Karen Khachanov or Alex de Minaur in Sunday's final, but the latter's partner Katie Boulter could not match the feats of her fellow national number one.
Earlier in the day, Boulter sought to make her own final at the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Japan, but she was bested 4-6 4-6 by 2020 Australian Open winner Sofia Kenin in one hour and 28 minutes.
After falling 5-2 down in the first set, Boulter hung on with one break back for 5-3 and saved two set points, but Kenin made it third time lucky to take the opener.
Boulter was then left to lament four missed break points in the sixth game of the second set, right before losing serve in the seventh and bowing out on her American opponent's first match point.
Kenin will now take on top seed and Olympic gold medallist Zheng Qinwen in Sunday's final.
Ben Knapton
