Great Britain’s Jack Draper reaches biggest final of career in Vienna, secures Top 15 debut

Jack Draper struck two milestones in one day in Vienna on Saturday, starting with reaching the biggest final of his career.

The No. 18-ranked Brit defeated Lorenzo Musetti in straight sets to achieve the feat, besting the No. 17-ranked Italian in an all-Top 20 clash in the semifinals of the ATP 500 event, 6-2, 6-4.

There were some tricky moments late in the match, as Draper originally led by a set and a break at 6-2, 4-2 before Musetti got the break back to tie it up at 4-all in the second set—but the Brit won two quick games from there, breaking right back at 15 and then holding at 15 to seal the one-hour, 48-minute victory.

He’s now through to the fourth ATP final of his career, but first above the ATP 250 level. He’s 1-2 in his first three finals, losing his first two at Sofia last year (to Adrian Mannarino) and Adelaide this year (to Jiri Lehecka), but winning his last one on the grass of Stuttgart this year (beating former Wimbledon finalist Matteo Berrettini for the title).

And with this result, Draper is now projected to break into the Top 15 on the ATP rankings for the first time. As per the ATP’s official live rankings, he’ll rise three spots from No. 18 to a new career-high of No. 15 on Monday, no matter what happens in the Vienna final.

Standing between Draper and his first ATP 500 title will be former world No. 8 Karen Khachanov, who beat current world No. 10 Alex de Minaur in the second semifinal by the exact same score, 6-2, 6-4.

It was the 14th Top 10 win of Khachanov’s career and it put him through to the milestone 10th ATP final of his career.

He’s 7-2 in his first nine finals, and he’s a win away from the second-biggest title of his career—as of now he has one Masters 1000 title (Paris in 2018) and six ATP 250 titles (Chengdu in 2016, Marseille and Moscow in 2018, Zhuhai last year and Doha and Almaty this year).

Khachanov leads Draper in their head-to-head, 2-1, though the Brit did win the pair’s most recent meeting in Adelaide last year.