Jack Draper’s start to the clay-court season began in disappointing fashion as he retired injured late in the deciding third set of his first-round match against Argentine Tomas Martin Etcheverry at the Barcelona Open.
Despite winning the first set in his first match since his second-round exit from the hard-court Miami Open on March 20, Draper struggled with his movement thereafter and had tape applied below his right knee by a physio in the break between second and third sets.
But after losing the second set 6-3, Draper had just been broken for the second time and trailed Etcheverry by 4-1 in the third before withdrawing from the match.
Draper, ranked one place higher than his opponent in the ATP rankings, had started promisingly to take the first set 6-3 but was clearly hindered with his knee from the start of the second set as Etcheverry, who had last week taken world No 2 Carlos Alcaraz to three sets in Monte Carlo, soon took control.
Etcheverry will now play either Portugal’s Nuno Borges or France’s Adrian Mannarino in the second round at Real Club de Tenis Barcelona.
More to follow…
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