One year removed from his first Grand Slam semifinal appearance at the U.S. Open, No. 5 seed Jack Draper of Great Britain had to work for his first win Monday in New York.
Draper outlasted qualifier Federico Agustin Gomez of Argentina 6-4, 7-5, 6-7 (7), 6-2 in their first-round meeting Monday afternoon at the U.S. Open, which was Draper’s first competitive singles match since Wimbledon because of an arm injury.
“I wasn’t too sure if I was going to make it here this year, but we did a great job with the team since Wimbledon to get myself back on court,” Draper said in his on-court interview. “It wasn’t my finest performance, but credit to my opponent, he played some outstanding tennis and I look forward to hopefully improving and getting better as the tournament carries on.”
Draper won 65 of 80 first-service points (81.3 percent) but Gomez held firm, saving 5 of 11 break points and outpacing him 50-38 in total winners and 15-14 in aces.
Draper trailed 3-0 to start the third set, then battled back to force the tiebreaker. He won the first three points and had match point at 6-5, but Gomez saved it and soon extended the match.
Ultimately, Gomez couldn’t overcome committing twice as many unforced errors as Draper (46-23).
“I’m not putting too much expectations on myself. I feel like I’ve put in the work. I know that if I can get that level back, I’m going to be really tough to beat,” Draper said.
The first upset of a seeded player on the day belonged to Australian Adam Walton, who took down No. 22 Ugo Humbert of France 6-4, 7-6 (4), 5-7, 6-1. Walton won a whopping 61 of 69 first-service points (88.4 percent). Later, Argentina’s Federico Comesana ousted No. 28 Alex Michelsen 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.
Brazilian up-and-comer Joao Fonseca defeated Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5), 6-3. An all-American matchup saw qualifier Martin Damm sweep wild card Darwin Blanch 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. Sebastian Korda trailed 7-5, 6-4 to Great Britain’s Cameron Norrie when he withdrew due to an apparent back injury.
Other winners included South African qualifier Lloyd Harris, Hong Kong qualifier Coleman Wong and Belgians Raphael Collignon and Zizou Bergs, with many more matches to come in the evening session.
–Field Level Media
