No. 7 seed Jack Draper clinched the first ATP 500-level title of his career when the Brit defeated Russia’s Karen Khachanov 6-4, 7-5 in the final of the Erste Bank Open on Sunday in Vienna, Austria.
Draper found himself trailing in the second set when Khachanov fought out of a 4-0 hole by winning five consecutive games. Draper took back control from there by tying the match 5-5, breaking Khachanov’s serve in the 11th game and rallying from a 15-40 margin in the 12th game.
Draper hit 30 winners to Khachanov’s 16; Draper was also far better at the net, winning 14 of 16 points there compared to 8 of 14 for Khachanov.
Draper, 22, had only one previous win on tour, which came in June in Stuttgart, Germany. Khachanov was eyeing his second title this month after prevailing in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Swiss Indoors Basel
Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard became the lowest-ranked player to win the title in Basel since the tournament became a tour-level event as he knocked out sixth seed Ben Shelton 6-4, 7-6 (4) in Switzerland.
Neither player broke serve in the second set until the ninth point of the tiebreaker, when Mpetshi Perricard took control of the match for good. He finished the day with 22 aces (Shelton offered up 10) and won 33 of his 39 first-serve points (84.6 percent).
Mpetshi Perricard, 21, entered the week No. 50 in the ATP rankings. His breakthrough ATP title came back in May at the Lyon Open in France.
–Field Level Media
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