Draper Advances to Paris Masters Second Round Following Lehecka Victory

British number one Jack Draper advanced to the second round of the Paris Masters, securing a straight-set victory against Jiri Lehecka of the Czech Republic. This follows Draper’s recent triumph, where he defeated Russia’s Karen Khachanov 6-4 7-5 to claim the Erste Bank Open in Vienna on Sunday. Draper, fresh from winning the most significant title of his career in Vienna on Sunday, completed his match against Lehecka in one hour and eight minutes with scores of 7-5, 6-2. The initial set was closely contested, with serves holding until Draper achieved a decisive break in the 11th game. The Briton then took control of the second set, winning five consecutive games to secure his win. Draper is scheduled to compete against American fifth seed Taylor Fritz in the second round on Wednesday. The 22-year-old left-handed player, who reached his first Grand Slam semi-final at the US Open last month, achieved a new career-high world ranking of 15th on Monday. Elsewhere in the tournament, Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz progressed to the third round, defeating Chilean Nicolas Jarry 7-5, 6-1. Alcaraz, the second seed, who received a first-round bye, is set to play either France’s Ugo Humbert or America’s Marcos Giron in the last 16. Australia’s Alex de Minaur enhanced his prospects of qualifying for the season-ending ATP Finals by securing a 7-5, 6-1 first-round victory against Mariano Navone of Argentina. De Minaur is positioned to take Andrey Rublev’s place in the last qualification spot if he reaches the quarter-finals in Paris, and his next opponent is Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic. Meanwhile, Russian sixth seed Andrey Rublev, who also received a first-round bye, has been eliminated from the tournament following a 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-5) loss to Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo. Earlier on Tuesday, world number one Jannik Sinner withdrew from the Masters 1,000 event due to illness. Sinner, from Italy, stated that he contracted a virus after arriving in the city ahead of schedule to practice for the competition. The 23-year-old commented, “Today I feel better already a little bit, but the body is not ready to compete and I still feel very, very weak.” He added, “It doesn’t make sense to go on court and try to compete.” Sinner expressed hope for a full recovery in time for the ATP Finals, scheduled to be held in Turin from November 13-20.