After navigating the most important two weeks of his blossoming career with formidable ruthlessness and self-belief, Jack Draper walked on to Arthur Ashe Stadium for the biggest match of his career fully aware that the challenge required him to elevate both his game and physicality to new levels in order to contend with the No 1 men’s player, Jannik Sinner.
Despite fighting with everything he had, Draper was unable to show his best qualities as he struggled physically in humid conditions, vomiting multiple times. In one of the most turbulent matches of the tournament, Sinner, who himself suffered a wrist injury, edged out the British No 1 7-5, 7-6(3), 6-2 in a three-hour, three-minute psychodrama to reach the US Open final for the first time. He will play the USA’s Taylor Fritz, who beat his compatriot Frances Tiafoe over five sets in Friday’s other semi-final.
