Joy for Jack as he snaps up opening a first win at Grand Slam
JACK Draper hit a significant milestone at Wimbledon with what appears likely to be the first of many grand slam victories.
The 20-year-old has shown this year that he is more than capable of building on his standout talent as a junior, rising more than 150 places in the rankings since taking a set off Novak Djokovic on his debut 12 months ago.
His game is particularly well suited to grass and he arrived at the All England Club as a top-100 player and a genuine danger to the rest of the field after reaching the semi-finals in Eastbourne.
He drew another in-form player in Belgian Zizou Bergs, champion at the recent second-tier Challenger tournament in Ilkley, but Draper fought off three set points in the third set to claim a 6-4 6-4 7-6 (4) victory on Court 12.
The British number four is likely to get a bigger court assignment in the second round when he takes on Australian 19th seed Alex De Minaur.
Draper’s big left-handed serve and forehand are his key weapons but his big-point mentality was just as important a factor here.
He broke serve to lead 4-3 in the opening set after surviving a tight game of his own, and came through more pressure moments in the second.
The only disappointment for Draper was the service game he dropped in the third set when he had looked in total control that allowed Bergs back into the match.
The Belgian played his best tennis late in that set, creating three chances to win it, one with a Boris Becker-style diving volley winner, but Draper saved them all superbly.
And the Londoner then seized his opportunity in the tie-break to become the sixth British player through to the second round.
Meanwhile, British wild card Alastair Gray pulled off a remarkable straight-sets victory on his grand slam singles debut to reach the second round at Wimbledon.
Gray, ranked 288 in the world, saw off former Wimbledon boys’ singles champion Tseng Chun-hsin 6-3 6-3 7-6 (3) with a composed display on Court 14.
The 24-year-old from Twickenham, who attended the same US college as British number one Cameron Norrie, took the third set on a tie-break to potentially set up a clash with 11th seed Taylor Fritz in the next round.
Gray, the second lowest-ranked player in the men’s draw, had won ITF World Tennis Tour events in Shrewsbury and Glasgow this year but had never played above Challenger Tour level.
Facing him was the world number 95 who beat Britain’s Jack Draper in the 2018 boys’ final and was also making
his first appearance in the main draw.
But it was Gray who was celebrating a career-best victory on the day his prospective housemate Ryan Peniston also recorded a first Wimbledon win.
He created one break point on the Tseng serve in the first set and it was all he needed as he hit a forehand winner to clinch the break before serving out the set to love.
Gray immediately broke in the second set but missed an opportunity to go up a double break in the third game.
He could have been left to rue that chance as Tseng hit back in a mammoth game that lasted over 10 minutes, converting his third break point when the Briton went long with a forehand. But Gray hit back immediately, breaking serve to take charge of the second set.
The third set remained on serve and went to a tie-break, where Gray reeled off five straight points to record a memorable victory.