British teenager Jack Draper stunned Italian third seed Jannik Sinner at Queen’s Club for a first ATP Tour win.
Wildcard Draper, 19, came from 4-0 down in the first set to win 7-6 (8-6) 7-6 (7-2) in their first-round match.
“I’m glad I was able to play well against such a great player like Jannik,” said Draper, who is ranked 286 places below 19-year-old Sinner.
Fellow Briton Cameron Norrie came from behind to beat Albert Ramos-Vinolas 4-6 6-3 6-4 for his first win at Queen’s.
That came after the determined performance by Draper, who saved set points in the first tie-break against world number 23 Sinner.
The Italian reached the last 16 at the French Open last week and has been widely tipped as a future star of the sport.
“He’s way ahead of where I am, really, so I’ve got a lot to do to catch up with him, but it’s nice to beat him on this court,” said Draper, who was runner-up in the Wimbledon boys’ singles in 2018.
He will play Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik or France’s Jeremy Chardy in the second round at the Cinch Championships.
Draper made his ATP Tour main-draw debut earlier this year in Miami, pushing Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Kukushkin in the first set before collapsing with a heat-related illness.
Meanwhile, British number two Norrie also advanced with his win over Ramos-Vinolas.
Last month, the 33-year-old Spaniard beat Norrie in the Estoril final, during a solid clay-court swing for the Briton.
“I’m playing well at big moments and I think that showed today, especially in the second set and third set,” Norrie, 25, said.
“I think I’m doing the fundamentals well – serve and return – and definitely it’s going to be a big factor leading into the grass.”
Fellow Briton Liam Broady, 27, was awarded a wildcard into the main draw but the world number 146 lost 6-4 6-4 to France’s Adrian Mannarino.
Mannarino, 32, has reached the quarter-finals at Queen’s twice, most recently in 2018, and the world number 36 has now snapped a nine-match losing streak.
Serbian qualifier Viktor Troicki beat Italian seventh seed Lorenzo Sonego, which left just one seed who survived the first day.
Russian fifth seed Aslan Karatsev came from a set down against Chilean lucky loser Alejandro Tabilo to win 3-6 6-4 6-2.
He will play Norrie in the second round.
Former world number one Andy Murray and British number one Dan Evans open their campaigns on Tuesday.
Article courtesy of BBC Sport
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