Nice Britain’s Jack Draper suffered Sofia Open ultimate defeat on Saturday, shedding to France’s Adrian Mannarino in a third-set decider.
The victory was Mannarino’s third title of 2023, defeating Draper 7-6 (6), 2-6, 6-3 in Bulgaria.
Draper should set his sights on qualifying for the ATP Finals subsequent season after narrowly failing to choose up a primary tour title.
The 21-year-old was the youngest British participant to achieve an ATP Tour decider since Andy Murray in 2009 however he was unable to discover a well past wily veteran Mannarino.
Mannarino, 35, has been in wonderful type and one break within the deciding set proved sufficient for him to safe victory within the Bulgarian capital.
However this week has been one other reminder that, if match, Draper is usually a power on the prime of the sport and he believes he could possibly be among the many main eight gamers on this planet in 2024.
Citing the swift rise of final 12 months’s Sofia runner-up Holger Rune, Draper mentioned: “Hopefully that’s the same for me. Obviously I’m disappointed I lost in the final but I’ll keep working and hopefully I do well next year and can be in Turin.”
Draper dropped serve within the opening sport however hit again right away and there was nothing to decide on between the pair till the primary level towards serve at 6-6 within the tie-break.
The highly effective Englishman discovered the proper response with a break in the beginning of the second set and appeared to be within the ascendancy going into the third.
However Mannarino started to use some constant stress to his serve and a break for 4-2 proved the essential second, with Draper unable to transform two probabilities within the ultimate sport.
It has nonetheless been a wonderful week for the younger Londoner, who was on a nine-match profitable streak after lifting a title on the second-tier Challenger Tour final week in Bergamo.
“I think there wasn’t much to it to be honest,” mentioned Draper. “It was a really tight first set. Adrian’s obviously played a lot of matches this year. He’s having a great season. And fair play to him. I guess sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, and today wasn’t my day.”
Nice Britain’s Draper suffered defeat in his first ATP Tour ultimate
Draper’s speedy progress has stalled this season due to harm, notably a shoulder drawback that brought about him to overlook Wimbledon, however he believes he used the time away correctly.
“I feel so motivated to want to work so hard every match for every point and compete well,” he mentioned. “And I think with the time I’ve missed off the court, that really helps me coming on to the court, because I haven’t been able to have the opportunity to play as many events.
“I simply had an extended exhausting take a look at myself. I felt like there wasn’t a lot that I might executed improper. Watching a lot of the tennis was actually tough and seeing my rating drop.
“But I went straight back to it, worked really hard on my physical state and worked hard mentally to get myself back in a position that, when I was fit, I was able to perform at the highest level again and be better than I was. I’m just proud of the way I’ve come back after such a tough year.”
Draper is subsequent set to be in motion in Nice Britain’s Davis Cup quarter-final towards Serbia in Malaga later this month, the place it could be an enormous shock if he was not given the nod because the second singles participant.
