Jack Draper beats Chun-Hsin Tseng to keep semi-final hopes alive at Next Gen Finals ahead of Lorenzo Musetti clash
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Published 09/11/2022 at 20:53 GMT
After losing his opening match at the Next Gen Finals, Jack Draper bounced back with victory over Chun-Hsin Tseng to give his semi-final hopes a boost. British No. 3 Draper won in four sets against Tseng in Milan. Draper faces top seed Lorenzo Musetti in his last match in the Red Group while there were wins for Brandon Nakashima and Francesco Passaro on Wednesday.
Highlights: Stricker beats Draper in straight sets at Next Gen ATP Finals
Jack Draper got his first win at the Next Gen Finals in Milan as he beat Chun-Hsin Tseng in four sets.
British No. 3 Draper surprisingly lost his opening match against world No. 111 Dominic Stricker on Tuesday.
But he showed his power and quality to beat Tseng 1-4 4-2 4-3(2) 4-2.
The result means Draper’s semi-final hopes are alive ahead of his final match against top seed Lorenzo Musetti. What Draper needs to qualify will depend on how Musetti fares against Stricker on Wednesday evening.
Tseng was outclassed by Musetti in his first match but looked in good touch in the early stages against Draper and earned the first break to take the opening set.
Draper raised his level and after dropping just a point in three service games in the second set, broke to level the match.
The Brit continued to hit with power, accelerating through shots and taking the match to Tseng.
He dominated the tiebreak to take a 2-1 lead and then broke to move ahead. Tseng had two break points to get to 3-3, but Draper found two serves out wide to win.
In the Green Group, Francesco Passaro saved three match points to beat fellow Italian Matteo Arnaldi 4-3(7) 2-4 3-4(4) 4-3(4) 4-3(8).
Passaro was cramping towards the end of the contest but somehow prevailed in the longest match in Next Gen Finals history at two hours and 43 minutes.
"I am very tired," Passaro said. "It was a really long match and this format I think it is tough and physical.
"For me it was physical today, with the tension as well, I was cramping. It was not easy. I am really happy to win and I will enjoy."
Brandon Nakashima moved to 2-0 with a commanding 4-1 4-3(2) 4-2 victory against Jiri Lehecka.
Nakashima, who hit 21 winners, including seven aces, is not yet assured of a spot in the semi-finals despite his record.
“Going into it, I knew it was going to be another tough match for sure,” said Nakashima after his 69-minute victory.
“He plays a very solid game, very flat, a very progressive game, so I knew I had to minimise the errors on my side and try to be aggressive off the first ball as much as possible. I thought I did that pretty well today, so happy to get the win.”
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