Jack Draper, the British number one, progressed to the second round of the Paris Masters following a straight-set victory over Jiri Lehecka of the Czech Republic, winning 7-5, 6-2 in one hour and eight minutes.
The first set was closely contested, remaining on serve until Draper achieved a crucial break in the 11th game. In the second set, Draper dominated, winning five consecutive games to secure his place in the next round.
Draper, who recently captured the biggest title of his career in Vienna on Sunday, will face American fifth seed Taylor Fritz in the second round on Wednesday. The 22-year-old left-hander reached a career-high ranking of 15th in the world on Monday after reaching his first Grand Slam semi-final at the US Open last month.
In other matches, second seed Carlos Alcaraz advanced to the third round after defeating Chilean Nicolas Jarry 7-5, 6-1. Alcaraz, who received a bye in the first round, will meet either Ugo Humbert of France or American Marcos Giron in the last 16.
Alex de Minaur of Australia improved his chances of qualifying for the season-ending ATP Finals with a 7-5, 6-1 victory over Argentina’s Mariano Navone. De Minaur needs to reach the quarter-finals in Paris to replace Andrey Rublev in the final qualification position and will next face Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic.
Meanwhile, Russian sixth seed Andrey Rublev, who also received a bye in the first round, was eliminated after a 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-5) defeat against Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina.
Earlier on Tuesday, world number one Jannik Sinner withdrew from the Masters 1,000 event due to illness. Sinner reported feeling weak after contracting a virus upon his arrival in the city for practice. “Today I feel better already a little bit, but the body is not ready to compete and I still feel very, very weak,” the 23-year-old stated. He hopes to recover in time for the ATP Finals scheduled for November 13-20 in Turin.
