Jack Draper: British No 1 survives first battle against Mariano Navone to advance at Melbourne Park | Tennis news
Jack Draper made it through five sets in the first round of the Australian Open for the second year in a row.
Twelve months ago, the British No. 1 vomited into a bin on the court at the end of a grueling win over Marcos Giron in blistering heat in Melbourne.
It was fresher and airier this time, with Draper’s biggest problem against Argentina’s Mariano Navone his own inconsistency after an interrupted build-up caused by a hip injury.
Draper made a staggering 88 unforced errors and appeared to be heading for defeat from two sets to one down, but clawed his way out of a big hole to win 4-6 6-3 3-6 6-3 6-2 after four hours and one minute .
The 15th seed threw his arms in the air after Navone’s final return flew wide before puffing out his cheeks and wearily hugging his opponent.
Draper was forced to miss the training block with Carlos Alcaraz and the United Cup due to a hip problem he picked up in pre-season, but spoke confidently of his prospects ahead of the tournament.
However, the 23-year-old looked out of sorts from the start, splashing errors and errant shots as Navone went for an early break.
The British star, a potential dark horse after a run to the semi-finals of the US Open, steadied himself in the second set and appeared to turn things around when he broke serve to start the third.
But instead the errors returned and he dropped serve twice in a row, and 47th-ranked Navone took the set.
History almost repeated itself in the fourth set when Draper broke early to tie things up, and had Navone taken more than one of his five break points, he might have emerged victorious.
But Draper dug in, broke again to take a 5-3 lead and finally found some breathing room in the deciding set with Navone physically feeling the pace.
The 23-year-old left-hander was Britain’s third winner of the day after Jodie Burrage and Harriet Dart.
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