Jack Draper continued his spectacular comeback from an arm harm by beating Francisco Cerundolo to arrange a round-of-16 conflict with Novak Djokovic at Indian Wells.
Draper rode his luck on the finish of the second set to clinch a 6-1, 7-5 win and arrange his first assembly with Djokovic since he took the primary set off the defending champion on his Wimbledon debut in 2021.
Draper, now 24, returned from an eight-month absence from the ATP Tour in Dubai final week, and his win over Cerundolo marked the primary time he has gained successive matches on the similar event since Queen’s final June.
Draper instructed Sky Sports activities: “I am solely simply attending to the purpose the place I am taking part in with out ache in my arm, so it is not straightforward to really feel actually assured.
“Clearly I have been taking part in a bit of bit, however I’ve acquired to just accept that my tennis is not going to be utterly there for some time.”
Draper breezed by way of the primary set however was severely examined on the tailend of the second as Cerundolo served to degree the tie earlier than dropping serve twice in succession because the Briton stepped up on the key moments.
And he admitted he must increase his sport for his long-awaited rematch with Djokovic, who reached the fourth spherical for the primary time since 2017 after squeezing previous Aleksandar Kovacevic 6-4, 1-6, 6-4.
Draper added: “I have been watching him since I used to be a younger boy and for my part he is the best participant of all time.
“If you come up in opposition to him you already know he will be there mentally, you already know he will make it an extremely robust match and play some loopy tennis and I’ll must be prepared for that.”
Fellow Briton and former champion Cameron Norrie additionally reached spherical 4 after an excellent 6-4 6-4 win over world No. 6 Alex de Minaur.
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He’ll meet Australia qualifier Rinky Hijikata, who upset tenth seed Alexander Bublik 7-6, 6-7, 6-3.
World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz dropped the primary set to twenty sixth seed Arthur Rinderknech earlier than profitable 6-7, 6-3, 6-2.
Sonay Kartal stored British curiosity alive within the ladies’s singles as she recovered from dropping the primary set to beat fifteenth seed Madison Keys.
The previous Australian Open champion took the primary set 6-2, however the British No. 2 took the following two 6-2, 6-3 to finish victory in slightly below two hours.
Kartal will face the present Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina within the spherical of 16 after the world No. 3 beat Ukrainian twenty eighth seed Marta Kostyuk 6-4, 6-4.
World No. 2 Iga Swiatek eased by way of 6-3 6-2 in opposition to Maria Sakkari, whereas Elena Svitolina beat Ashlyn Krueger 6-4, 6-2.
