Jack Draper: The British No. 1 survives opening battle against Mariano Navone to advance at Melbourne Park | Tennis News

Jack Draper took a five-set battle in the first round of the Australian Open for the second year in a row.

Twelve months ago, the British No.1 vomited in a courtside bin at the end of a hard-fought win over Marcos Giron in sweltering heat in Melbourne.

It was much colder this time, and Draper’s biggest problem against Argentine Mariano Navone was his lack of consistency after accumulating play disrupted by a thigh injury.

Draper committed 88 unforced errors and appeared to be on his way to defeat in two sets against a two-set deficit, but he pulled himself out of a big hole to win 4-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 after four and one hours. minute.

The fifteenth seed raised his arms in the air after Navone’s final response, before puffing out his cheeks and hugging his opponent tiredly.

Draper was forced to miss training with Carlos Alcaraz and the United Cup due to a hip problem he suffered in pre-season but spoke confidently about his prospects ahead of the tournament.

However, the 23-year-old looked out of form from the start, making mistakes and mistimed shots, while Navone took the lead early on.

The British star, who became a potential dark horse after reaching the semi-finals at the US Open, settled the match in the second set and appeared to have turned the corner when he broke to start the third set.

Instead, the errors returned and he dropped serve twice in a row, giving Navone, ranked 47th, the set.

History almost repeated itself in the fourth set, as Draper broke his opponent’s serve early before tying the score. If Navone had gotten more than one of five break points, he could have emerged victorious.

But Draper hung on and broke again for a 5-3 lead and was finally able to find some breathing room in the deciding set with Navone feeling the physical pace.

The 23-year-old left-hander was the third British winner of the day Continuing from Judy Berg and Harriet Dart.

He will face Thanasi Kokkinakis Then, after the Australian came back from a set down and took painkillers during the medical break, he defeated Roman Saviolin 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) in a first-round match that lasted more than four hours.

“I couldn’t sleep last night,” he said, referring to the home fans. “There was a lot of anxiety. Playing in front of you was unbelievable.”

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