Draper hails British tennis’ depth as trio advance

After Jacob Fearnley and Cameron Norrie joined him in the final 32 of the Madrid Open, Jack Draper applauded the strength of British tennis.

After Fearnley and Norrie had defeated seeded opponents, fifth-seeded Draper defeated world number 34 Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands 6-3, 6-4.

Fearnley, who is ranked 68 in the world, defeated a top-20 player for the first time, beating Czech Republic’s Tomas Machac, the 19th seed, 1-6, 6-3, 6-2, to win the second set.

Grigor Dimitrov, the 15th seed, will be his next opponent, who was a former Grand Slam semi-finalist and world number three.

Norrie, the 91-year-old world number, defeated 26th-ranked Czech player Jiri Lehecka 2-6, 6-4, 6-0 to set up a meeting with Canadian ace Gabriel Diallo, who is currently the world number 91.

“Cam obviously injured himself last year, so it’s great to see him recovering,” Draper said in a statement to Sky Sports.

“And Jacob, an incredible player my age. Although the British public is still learning a lot about him, I believe he will be one of the best players in the world.

Cam has done that for us, and he can do that as well, so I think it’s really exciting for British tennis and a good source of healthy competition.

In round three of the tournament, Draper bounced back from his disappointing defeat at Monte Carlo against Italian Matteo Berrettini.

The 23-year-old took the first set 4-2 before a quick break gave him control of the second set, which he won in an hour and 15 minutes.

He continued, “I knew it would be a tough challenge because I’m still relatively new to the clay.”

“Everything was working out really well, so I hope I can continue to grow in confidence and become more effective on this surface.”

Fearnley claimed in the first set that he had “been playing some of his worst tennis” and then twisted his ankle.

Whether or not it worked, it really did. I was taking painkillers while he said I was serving some of the best patients I’ve had in a while.

My body is currently in good shape, I believe.