Draper edges past Monfils in late-night French Open thriller

In a memorable late-night thriller, Jack Draper defeated home favorite Gael Monfils to secure a third-round matchup that will feature three British men for the first time since 1968.

Fifth seed Draper stayed focused and regrouped to defeat Court Philippe Chatrier 6-3,4-6,6-3, 7-5 with the Parisian crowd ready to take on 38-year-old Monfils.

Monfils, the former world number six, was unable to serve out at 5-3 or take two set points at 5-4 in a tense contest that featured high-quality rallies and entertainment.

The best Roland Garros win of his young career was incredibly well-maintained by Draper, 23.

After that, Draper said, “My brain was fried out here.”

“I’m not sure if I’ll go to sleep tonight because of what Galel was doing out here. My brain is just all over the place.”

Jacob Fearnley and Cameron Norrie, who play each other in an all-British meeting, are the next-to-be-played Brazilian teenager, who is the British number one.

Fearnley, 23, made progress when Ugo Humbert, his French rival, retired after a bad fall.

When 22nd seed Humbert resigned, Fearnley, who had earlier this year taken Norrie as the country’s top female, was leading 6-3 4-4.

Federico Gomez, 29, defeated Argentine qualifier Federico Gomez 7-6 (9-7) 6-2 6-1 to claim his place earlier on Thursday.

Draper has grown to be a dominant player with real ambitions to win the biggest prizes in the sport over the past year.

Another illustration of the Englishman’s growing maturity was the 23-year-old’s triumph over Monfils.

Draper has now come back with a point to prove after two agonizing experiences on the Paris clay.

For his first career victory at Roland Garros, he battled from a set down against Italian opponent Mattia Bellucci on Tuesday.

The popular Monfils, who can captivate audiences with his entertaining and vivacious acting, has a similar theme.

One of his favorite sons playing in the final year of his career gave the French fans a reputation for being boisterous, which Draper had to block out to create an upbeat atmosphere.

Crucially, he managed to stay calm for the majority of the entertaining contest.

After Monfils leveled, Draper remained unapologetically led despite being enthusiastically cheered and with the audience yelling at him to stop.

Although a riot in his box caused some tension and drew home fans’ whistles, Draper was unable to stop him from dropping serve for 4-2.

Draper took his chance in the ninth game after missing four break-return points in the 13-minute seventh game, but Monfils added two more points.

Draper, however, is a different animal these days.

He showed once more that he can survive difficult circumstances well into Grand Slam competitions, despite avoiding a decider this time by winning three straight five-setters at the Australian Open in January.

At 11:44 p.m. local time, Draper managed to keep his cool by winning the match’s final five games.

There were times when I was very irritated, but I kept reminding myself that this is why I put in the effort to play on these kinds of courts, Draper said.

Another notable achievement for Edinburgh’s Fearnley was taking the title of British number two earlier this year.

Fearnley was ranked outside of the top 500 just 12 months after graduating from a US university in April of last year.

He has since broken ground at Grand Slam competitions and achieved one of the fastest climbs in ATP Tour history.

At Roland Garros, he and Swiss former champion Stan Wawrinka were paired against each other last week, and the draws continued.

In a capable position to face Humbert, he was benefited by his effective victory in calming the pro-Wawrinka crowd.

Fearnley sucked some energy from the home fans in a confident start thanks to his background in the trash-talking US college game.

In the second set, he did lose by a break, but he made it on a path no one would want to take.

In the eighth game, Humbert slammed his right leg as he stretched for a return at 40-40.

Fearnley’s French Open debut moved him into the top 32, making him 55th overall.

He will now turn his attention to Norrie, who also studied at Texas Christian University and eventually became a professional player.

Norrie, who placed 81st in the rankings, returned to form on clay and won one of his career’s most admirable victories earlier this week over Daniil Medvedev at Roland Garros, beating the then-world number one.

A different challenge presented itself when he faced 114th-ranked Gomez in a match he had anticipated to win.

I had to prepare for this game because I was the one who would win, according to Norrie.