Jack Draper’s remarkable season reached another high point on Saturday as he reached his first ATP 500 final at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna.
Britain’s No. 1, who had rested a month before the tournament, produced another stellar performance, beating Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti 6-2 6-4 in one hour and 48 minutes.
The 22-year-old, who lost in straight sets to world number one Jannik Sinner in the US Open semifinals last month, has reached his fourth tour-level final and is now on track to win his second career title after winning the tournament. Stuttgart this summer.
Draper, who will be the winner of the match between Australian second seeds Alex de Minaur and Karen Khachanov, said: sky sports: “From my perspective, I think the first set was of a really high standard.
“Lorenzo was a really tough competitor and the second set was up and down, there were some tensions and difficult moments, but luckily I made it in the end.
“I think it’s the biggest finals I’ve ever had, and I’m really thankful to be in the 500 finals after finishing the season.”
De Minaur is looking to make his ATP Finals debut and could leapfrog Andrei Rublev for eighth with a win in Vienna.
Draper, who broke Musetti’s serve in the opening game, recovered from the breakdown and won four straight games to take the first set.
Musetti, who advanced to the Wimbledon semifinals this year, dropped his serve again in the beginning of the second inning.
Draper, who had won his previous two matches, got through two tax service games but Musetti’s pressure showed when he leveled at 4-4.
But thanks to Musetti’s disastrous service game, the momentum swung back in Draper’s favor.
A completely exhausted Draper took a medical timeout at 5-4, but came back to close out the win and advance to his first final at ATP 500 level.
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Draper continues to climb the ranks.
The Englishman has now leapfrogged Musetti to 15th place in the ATP rankings.
British players advance to finals in Vienna
Draper is the fourth British player to reach the Vienna final, following Greg Rusedski, Tim Henman and two-time winner Andy Murray.
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