Tommy Paul ended Jack Draper’s seven-match winning run on grass on Friday to reach the semi-finals at Queen’s but fourth seed Taylor Fritz crashed out in straight sets.
British number one Draper secured the biggest win of his career when he ended the Queen’s Club reign of Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz on Thursday. But the 22-year-old was outgunned by American fifth seed Paul in the last-eight tie in London, going down 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 in a match lasting a shade over two hours.
Draper battled back from a set down but he was broken to love midway through the decider as the match swung Paul’s way.
Defeat ended Draper’s seven-match winning streak after he lifted his first ATP title in Stuttgart last week.
“I played good tennis and I like the grass,” said Paul.
“I knew today was going to be a battle.
“It is never easy against Jack. He has been playing such good tennis, so I am really happy to get through that one.”
Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti continued his impressive grass-court season by ending the run of British wild card Billy Harris 6-3, 7-5 to reach his second consecutive semi-final on the surface.
Musetti, who advanced to the last four in Stuttgart last week, fired 20 winners and committed just six unforced errors.
He is chasing his third tour-level title and will next play Jordan Thompson after the Australian defeated fourth-seed American Taylor Fritz 6-4, 6-3. Thompson, who did not face a break point against Fritz, arrived in London on a five-match losing streak.
Sinner survives Struff’s clutch serves to snatch winIn the face of a brilliant serving display from Jan-Lennard Struff, Jannik Sinner held firm on Friday to advance to the Terra Wortmann Open semi-finals.
Struff hit 18 aces and saved 16 of 18 break points — including all 11 in the second and third sets — but could not pull off the upset against the new No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings.
The Italian’s 6-2, 6-7(1), 7-6(3) result was his third consecutive three-set win in Halle, after earlier victories against Tallon Griekspoor and Fabian Marozsan. Sinner lost a tie-break in each of the three matches.
“It was a very tough match,” Sinner said. “I had chances in the second, had chances in the third, but couldn’t use them. Obviously it has been very tough, also mentally. I’m very pleased to be in the next round, I played a lot on Friday, I played a lot also today — two and a half hours on grass, it’s a long time. I’ll try to recover for tomorrow and hopefully show some good tennis.”
Playing in his first event as World No 1, Sinner has yet to meet a seeded opponent. That trend will continue in today’s semis, when he takes on Zhang Zhizhen or Christopher Eubanks.
Sinner is bidding to become the eighth man in PIF ATP Rankings history to win the title in his first event as No. 1, and the first to do it since Andy Murray at the 2016 Nitto ATP Finals.