By Julien Pretot
PARIS (Reuters) -Jack Draper’s French Open campaign continued in style on Saturday as the Briton ended Brazilian poster boy Joao Fonseca’s run with a ruthless 6-2 6-4 6-2 victory to reach the fourth round.
The British fifth seed, who made it to the semi-finals at last year’s U.S. Open, was facing a potentially tricky test against the flashy Fonseca, who at 18 already has his army of fans and whose brilliant play has caught the eye at Roland Garros.
The left-handed Draper, however, was not impressed, letting his opponent shine at times but keeping things under control as dark clouds made way for the sun on Court Suzanne Lenglen.
“I knew it was going to be a tight match, Joao caught the attention of everyone, the fans, so much to come from him; today a bit of experience made the difference, he’s got an unbelievably bright future,” said Draper.
“I played good, the conditions were tough out here. The first set was really key, I used my forehand well, mentally it was a good performance today. Happy to be in the second week here and hopefully more to come.”
In an another test of his claycourt credentials, Draper, who made it to the final at the Madrid Masters, will take on Portugal’s Henrique Rocha or Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan.
Draper snatched Fonseca’s serve in the third game of what promised to be a battle of heavy hitters.
Despite a poor first-serve percentage early on, Draper held on to win the opening set after stealing his opponent’s serve a second time.
Fonseca whipped several beautiful forehand winners, but his game was marred by unforced errors while Draper stayed solid and precise, himself punishing the Brazilian with a few superb, Rafa Nadal-like forehands.
Reading Fonseca’s serve with an eagle eye, Draper forced more and more errors from his overwhelmed opponent, ending it with an unreturnable serve on the first match point.
(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
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