Jack Draper booked a place in the last eight of the Cincinnati Open as he came from behind to beat Canada’s Félix Auger-Aliassime 5-7 6-4 6-4, in a match that ended in bizarre and contentious circumstances.
It is a third successive three-set victory for Draper, who will now meet Danish 15th seed Holger Rune in the quarter-finals.
Auger-Aliassime had already beaten No 7 seed Casper Ruud 6-3, 6-1 earlier in the day after rain prevented them taking to the court on Thursday night. However, he showed no signs of tiredness in the first set, seizing on his only break point in the 12th game. It was the only break point the Canadian had throughout the match as Draper fought back to claim victory.
The match ended in controversy, however, with Auger-Aliassime furious that Draper’s shot that ended the match was not legitimate. The Briton advanced for a drop shot but his opponent was left incensed, with the ball appearing to have deflected from Draper’s racket frame on to the floor before looping high and over the net via the cord.
Draper claimed he was watching Auger-Aliassime rather than the ball at the point of impact, adding: “I would replay it – if there was a replay I would replay it,” which cut little mustard with the Canadian. He told the umpire, Gregory Allensworth: “You’re going to get out now and then it’s going to go everywhere and it’s going to look ridiculous – I’m serious, it’s going to look ridiculous.”
The British player told the umpire: “I might look like an idiot now because people say I’m not being fair, but I was looking at him.” The supervisor was subsequently called, but had no grounds to overturn the decision, with Draper unwilling to give up the point without outside confirmation that the call was incorrect. With no video replay available to the officials, the decision was then left to the umpire.
Allensworth told Auger-Aliassime: “I just have to call it how I saw it. If I had a doubt, I would tell you but listen, we can go back and look at it after the match and if I see I’m wrong, I’ll admit it to you. But for now, I can’t go back and look at it.”
The players embraced at the net as the final result was confirmed.
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Draper’s next opponent, Rune, also had to come from behind to beat France’s Gaël Monfils 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. World No 46 Monfils had earlier completed a victory over Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz when their round of 32 match resumed.
Rain had forced the players off on Thursday night with Alcaraz a set up but 3-1 down in a second set tie-break. Monfils was quickly out of the blocks to level the contest, and he then took the decider for a 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4 triumph.
Third seed Alexander Zverev reached the quarter-finals with a 7-5, 7-6 (6) victory over Spain’s Pablo Carreño Busta. Andrey Rublev enjoyed a comfortable passage to the last eight, defeating American Brandon Nakashima 7-6 (5), 6-1.