Jack Draper finishes runner-up to Andrey Rublev at the Qatar Open; Julian Cash & Lloyd Glasspool crowned doubles champions
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British No.1 Jack Draper finished a strong week at the Qatar Open as runner-up to world No.10 Andrey Rublev after a three-set thriller in Doha.
Draper battled hard to come back from a set down against the now 17-time ATP title winner, but eventually lost 7-5, 5-7, 6-1 in two hours and three minutes.
This marked Draper’s fifth ATP final in his career, with the 23-year-old Briton holding two titles in Stuttgart and Vienna. It’s only the second event he’s played this season after making the fourth round of the Australian Open in January.
He leaves Qatar having recorded victories against Alexei Popyrin, Christopher O’Connell, Matteo Berrettini and Jiri Lehecka.
His final run has seen him rise four places in the live ATP rankings to a new career-high at world No.12.
“It’s been an amazing week, Draper said. “I want to say congratulations to Andrey, he outlasted me today. We’ve played some tough matches this week and in the third set he was just too strong for me.
“So much hard work gets put into this sport. It’s a lot of hard yards day in and day out and I’m really proud of my efforts this week.”
It was a confident start from Draper and Rublev, with both players managing to reel off comfortable holds of serve. Rublev had served from in front the whole way through and only dropped three points on serve throughout the set and in the closing stages the pressure told.
On the first break point of the match Rublev guided the ball down the line past the approaching Draper to gain a one set advantage.
Draper quickly dusted himself off but saw two break points come and go in the opening game of the second with Rublev struggling to get his first serve going again.
The British No.1 would get his chance again and this time he took it. On break point at 5-5, Rublev rattled the net cord to give Draper his first break of the match at a crucial moment.
With the match level at one set apiece, Rublev’s experience in winning 16 ATP titles coming into the final paid off.
The 27-year-old broke Draper on the Brit’s first service game of the third with a laser backhand return winner. From there Rublev hit another gear and with a second break he went 5-0 in front before closing out his second title in Doha.
Cash & Glasspool bag third title together in Qatar
Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool won the battle of the Brits in the Qatar Open final on Saturday as they defeated Davis Cup duo Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski 6-3, 6-2.
The recently formed British partnership have added a third ATP title since joining forces, adding to their trophies in Tokyo and Brisbane. They are the second team to win multiple ATP titles this season.
This was only the third time in the Open Era that there has been an all-British ATP doubles final and first outside the UK.
Cash and Glasspool made an early statement with a break in the opening game of the first set to get out to a quick lead. They managed to keep their nerve to serve out the first set and fended off break points through the opening games of the second.
Salisbury and Skupski would rue their missed opportunities as a double break in the final stages of the second set wrapped up the victory for their fellow countrymen.
