Jack Draper's road back to form took another painful turn at the Cincinnati Open, where the British number one fell to a straight-sets defeat against Spain's Martin Landaluce in the opening round. The 24-year-old had been playing only his second match since June, having spent months sidelined with a persistent arm injury that stemmed from a shoulder problem suffered at the US Open last year. Bone bruising and a series of forced withdrawals, including from Wimbledon and the Washington Open, saw his ranking tumble from a career-high of fourth all the way down toward 160th in the world.
Draper appeared to have the match under control, building a 5-2 lead in the second set, but Landaluce won five consecutive games to seal a 6-3, 7-5 result. The numbers told a grim story: 47 unforced errors and 12 double faults from Draper, whose confidence visibly evaporated once the 20-year-old Spaniard leveled at 5-5. It was a far cry from the player who reached the top five just over a year ago. Draper has recently been working with Mexican biomechanics specialist Carlos Cano, the same expert credited with helping Arthur Fery rise to British number one, in hopes of finally resolving the arm troubles.
Cameron Norrie, by contrast, delivered a much more encouraging performance. After dropping a tight first set to Croatia's Dino Prizmic, the world number 37 regrouped impressively, winning 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 to advance. Riding momentum from a semi-final run in Los Cabos two weeks earlier, Norrie now faces Wimbledon runner-up Alexander Zverev in the second round, a genuinely exciting matchup for British tennis fans.
TennisDraw users had Norrie penciled in as a solid pick to advance past the first round, and he delivered right on cue.
