Jack Draper reached the semi-finals of the Erste Bank Open in Vienna by beating Czech Republic’s Tomas Machac 6-3 3-6 6-1.
The British number one, benefitting from a month’s break before the tournament, produced a dominant final-set performance to set up a last-four clash with top seed Alexander Zverev or Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti.
Draper, up to 18 in the world rankings after the best year of his career, responded to losing the second set by breaking Machac twice in the decider.
The 22-year-old Briton, who lost in straight sets to world number one Jannik Sinner in the US Open semi-finals last month, opened up a 4-0 lead before wrapping up his win in two hours and seven minutes.
He was broken once, decisively, in the second set as Machac hit back to level the match, but the Czech world number 27 had no answer to his left-handed opponent’s power in the last set.
Draper beat Japan’s Kei Nishikori and Italy’s Luciano Darderi in the previous rounds without dropping a set and served out his match against with Machac with an ace.
