Olympics tennis: Team GB’s Jack Draper loses to Taylor Fritz at Paris 2024
British men’s number one Jack Draper faded in the sweltering Paris heat as the nation’s interest in the Olympics singles ended.
Draper, 22, lost 7-6 (7-3) 3-6 2-6 to American seventh seed Taylor Fritz on the Roland Garros clay.
After a strong and aggressive start which led to the first set, Draper was unable to take any of six break points in the third game of the second set.
Fritz hanging on proved to be pivotal.
The energy seemed to be sapped out of Draper, who has struggled in the early part of his career with fitness problems, by a lengthy rally in the fourth game.
Draper was broken in the sixth game and, from that point, the match quickly slipped away from him.
Continuing to wilt in temperatures of over 30C, Draper lost range with his groundstrokes and power in his serves as Fritz won 10 of the next 13 games to reach the last 16.
Meanwhile, American second seed Coco Gauff fell to a shock defeat against Croatia’s Donna Vekic in the second round of the women’s singles.
Gauff, 20, was among the favourites for a medal at the venue where she reached the French Open final in 2022.
The reigning US Open champion lost 7-6 (9-7) 6-2 against Vekic, who reached the Wimbledon final earlier this month, as she continued her recent renaissance.
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