AND OUR BRITISH BOY HAD HIS OWN EPIC WIN

THERE was more than one marathon match at Wimbledon yesterday, as 16-year-old Jack Draper showed enormous grit to come through an epic boys’ singles semi-final that lasted more than four hours. Little separated the British teenager and Colombian fifth seed Nicolas Mejia on Court 3 as they challenged John Isner and Kevin Anderson for the mightiest tussle of the day. However, more than two hours after his first, Draper converted his 11th match point to seal it. On Sunday he will seek to become the first Brit since Stanley Matthews, son of footballer Sir Stanley, in 1962 to be crowned boys’ singles champion. Draper had edged the first set tiebreak and, in what looked like a routine victory, Draper had his first match point at 6-5, fired a backhand down the line and went to celebrate, only to hear it had been called wide. With no challenges remaining the score was tied at 6-6. Mejia capitalised on Draper’s disbelief and fired down an ace, before Draper double-faulted to take it into a decider, where the true battle commenced. Another match point for Draper at 6-5 but he mis-hit a backhand. His next chance came two games later but, as he did so often, he hit a backhand into the net. A service winner from Mejia saved another, and it was level at 7-7. Draper berated himself and pleaded with his coaching team as he produced the errors on crucial moments. Both youngsters looked physically exhausted as the match ticked on. Draper had to come back time and again after losing match points, but, finally, at 18-17 up and with an advantage, he sealed it with an overhead smash and fell to his knees. With the clock at 4hr 23min, the broken pair walked off together to a standing ovation.