Jack Draper: British No 1 through to maiden ATP 500 final at Erste Bank Open in Vienna | Tennis News

Jack Draper’s remarkable season reached another high on Saturday as he made it through to his first ATP 500 final at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna.

The British No 1, benefiting from a month’s break before the tournament, produced another brilliant performance to defeat Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti 6-2 6-4 in one hour and 48 minutes.

The 22-year-old, who lost in straight sets to world No 1 Jannik Sinner in the US Open semi-finals last month, reached his fourth Tour-level final and is now on course to landing a second career title following his victory in Stuttgart this summer.

Draper, who will play the winner of the match between Australian second seed Alex de Minaur and Karen Khachanov, told Sky Sports: “I thought the first set was really high level from my side.

“Lorenzo is a really tough competitor and the second set was up and down, some nerves and some difficult moments. Luckily, in the end I got it done.

“I suppose it’s my biggest final yet. To be in the final of a 500 after the season I’ve had, I’m incredibly grateful.”

Having broken Musetti’s serve in the opening game, Draper recovered from being broken back to reel off four games in a row and take the first set.

Musetti, a Wimbledon semi-finalist this year, dropped serve again early in the second.

Draper, who had won their previous two matches, came through two taxing service games but Musetti’s pressure told when he levelled at 4-4.

However, the momentum swung dramatically back in Draper’s favour thanks to a wretched service game from Musetti.

A clearly exhausted Draper took a medical time-out at 5-4 but came back out to wrap up victory and reach his first final at ATP 500 level.

Tale of the Tape

Draper continues to climb up the rankings

The Briton has now leapfrogged Musetti in the ATP Rankings to a career high of 15th.

British players to make Vienna final

Draper is the fourth British player to reach the final in Vienna after Greg Rusedski, Tim Henman and two-time winner Andy Murray.

Draper’s remarkable 12 months

Draper reached his maiden ATP Tour final in Sofia last November, where he narrowly lost to France’s Adrian Mannarino 7-6 (8-6) 2-6 6-3.

He picked up where he left off at the start of 2024 – defeating three top 40 players to make his second ATP final in Adelaide, but once again finished as runner-up, this time to Jiri Lehecka.

Draper reached his third ATP final – this time on grass in Stuttgart – in June and after wins over Frances Tiafoe, Marcos Giron and Brandon Nakashima he defeated former Wimbledon runner-up Matteo Berrettini to make it third time lucky.

The 22-year-old battled back from a set down to beat the Italian 3-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-4.

The win also meant that he overtook Cameron Norrie to become the 19th man to be British No 1 in the Open Era.

At Queen’s Club, he upset Carlos Alcaraz in the second round and he then made his maiden Grand Slam semi-final at the US Open where he went toe-to-toe with world No 1 Jannik Sinner before bowing out 7-5 7-6 (7-3) 6-2.

How many hours of live tennis?

From 4am on October 28 through to 4pm on October 31 you can watch back to back LIVE TENNIS totalling 84 hours non stop action on Sky Sports Tennis.

What’s coming up on Sky Sports Tennis?

• Hong Kong Tennis Open – WTA 250 (October 28 – November 3)
• Jiangxi Open – WTA 250 (October 28 – November 3)
• Merida Open Akron – WTA 250 (October 28 – November 3)
• Rolex Paris Masters – ATP 1000 (October 28 – November 3)
• WTA Finals Riyadh – (November 2-9)
• Belgrade Open – ATP 250 (November 3-9)
• Moselle Open, Metz – ATP 250 (November 3-9)
• Nitto ATP Finals, Turin – (November 10-17)

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