Jack Draper’s eventful Australian Open ended with a second-round loss to 14th seed Tommy Paul.
The 22-year-old had struggled physically in his opening match against Marcos Giron, escaping in five sets and then rushing to a courtside bin to vomit.
He looked to have recovered reasonably well going into the clash against American Paul, but fell to a 6-2 3-6 6-3 7-5 defeat.
Marching on in Melbourne, @TommyPaul1 takes out an entertaining, back-and-forth contest against Jack Draper!#AusOpen • @wwos • @espn • @eurosport • @wowowtennis pic.twitter.com/t5zNNZ6T4T
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 18, 2024
Draper took confidence from having beaten Paul in both of their previous meetings, including comfortably last week in Adelaide, but the 26-year-old – a semi-finalist here last year – was sharp from the start.
The match was delayed by blustery showers in Melbourne and, when it did get under way, Draper came out of the blocks slowly, dropping serve three times in the opening set.
He hit back well in the second, beginning to trouble Paul with his power game, but it was the American on top again in the third set.
![Tommy Paul reacts after winning a point](http://content.assets.pressassociation.io/AP/2024/01/18/23d6679c57264cee9ab1dcb1df72ce68.jpg?w=640)
The conditions certainly did not make things easy and Draper looked hugely frustrated by his inability to time the ball as consistently as he would have liked.
Paul looked on his way to victory when he broke serve again to start the fourth set, but Draper fought back well to force two set points with a nervous Paul serving at 4-5.
He could not take either, though, and a missed forehand in the next game gave Paul the chance to serve for the match, which he took.
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