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This is all starting to get rather serious. Jack Draper is into the fourth round of the US Open without dropping a set and will face world No39 Tomas Machac for a place in his first Grand Slam quarter final.
The British No1 beat Botic van de Zandschulp, the conqueror of Carlos Alcaraz, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2, with another nerveless display.
The 22-year-old is improving rapidly and the next stage of his evolution is to make a deep run at a major. That his breakthrough could come in the very first Grand Slam after Andy Murray retired seems almost too good to be true; too poetic of a narrative.
But this really is a fine chance for Draper to make the semi-finals here, where he would be expected to face world No1 Jannik Sinner, with whom he has struck up a close friendship.
From expecting a free hit against Alcaraz, Draper went into his third round as favourite but he dealt with the pressure of that flipped script superbly.
Jack Draper is into the fourth round of the US Open without dropping a set
Draper starred as he beat Dutch player Botic van De Zandschulp (pictured) in straight sets
Draper now has a golden chance to reach his first Grand Slam quarter-final after an impressive run in America
Until his victory against Alcaraz this had been a poor year for Van de Zandschulp and Draper gradually eroded the fragile confidence his opponent had gained from that landmark win.
‘Botic played an incredible match against Carlos,’ said Draper. ‘It’s not always easy to go on that big stage and then come out the next round.
‘I played a solid match today. It was a bit scrappy, a bit up and down, but I got through in the end.’
As Draper suggested, this was a closer match than the scoreline suggests. In the first two sets Van de Zandschulp served well, as he did against Alcaraz, and the match came down to who played the big points better.
Draper took three of his eight break points while saving nine out of 10 on his own serve. That single break he conceded was the first time his lethal leftie serve has been breached this fortnight. His record of 97 per cent of service games held is the best in the tournament.
Draper took a 2-0 lead in the first set but faced a break point in each of his next three service games, eventually getting pegged back. It was a nip-and-tuck set but Draper produced two of his best shots of the match – a rifled forehand and a deft drop shot – to break decisively for 5-3.
The second set was similarly tight but once Van de Zandschulp double faulted to concede a break at 3-3 Draper took control.
At 2-2, 30-30 in the fourth set Van de Zandschulp served consecutive double faults and Draper was not about to let such generosity go unpunished.
More double faults came – six in all in that third set – and Van de Zandschulp began flexing his right leg in discomfort. By the end he looked more like the man who was contemplating retirement after the French Open than the man who thrashed Alcaraz on Thursday night.
Draper took three of his eight break points while saving nine out of 10 on his own serve
It has all been rather easy for Draper so far in New York as he targets making history
It has all been rather easy for Draper so far in New York. Zhizhen Zhang retired with a leg injury in his first-round match, he was far too good for fellow southpaw Facundo Diaz Acosta and Van de Zandschulp faded badly.
Has it almost been too easy? Draper has played only as well has he has needed to so far and that bar will be raised against Machac tomorrow.
The Czech, who reached his first Grand Slam fourth round with a straight-sets win over 33-year-old Belgian David Goffin yesterday, has a forehand at least as big as Draper’s and is also yet to drop a set.
Draper will now meet Czech ace Tomas Machac in the next round of the US Open
But Grand Slam fourth-round matches against unseeded players do not come along too often and this is a huge opportunity for Draper.
And how he richly he deserves it, after a 2023 – and, really, much of his early career – was seriously disrupted by injury. Draper has reinforced his hulking frame through hours of hard labour and is reaping the rewards.
‘Last year I had a tough year with injuries,’ he said. ‘This year I’ve been able to stay on court to compete all the time on tour against the best players in the world. This is what I put all the hard work for: to play on the biggest stages in the world. I’m really happy and grateful for the all the great people around me and we keep wanting more.’
Dan Evans was last night taking on No10 seed Alex de Minaur, trying to join Draper in the fourth round and make it a Super Saturday for British tennis.
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