Jack Draper’s body has let him down time and time again in the early stages of his career, but the odds have been defied so far at the 2025 Australian Open. The 23-year-old has won not one, not two, but three consecutive five-set matches.
Following close calls against Mariano Navone and Thanasi Kokkinakis, Draper came back from two sets to one down to defeat another Aussie, Aleksandar Vukic, 6-4, 2-6, 5-7, 7-6(5), 7-6(10-8) in three hours and 58 minutes to secure a spot in the fourth round on Friday night. The Brit needed more than four against against both Navone and Kokkinakis.
“He played incredible,” Draper said of Vukic. “It was a tough match and we have both played a lot of sets in our first couple of rounds, so I knew it would be tough. There were lots of ebbs and flows and it was great tennis. I thought it was done (at 3-1 in the final set), but he came back from the dead and played incredible. We are suffering in the five sets and you sometimes get little bits of energy.
“It was a great battle between two competitors going at it and that is what sport is all about.”
Maybe not in terms of physicality, but in terms of the scores it was an even more improbable run to the second week for Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. The Spaniard not only won back-to-back five-setters on Wednesday and Friday, but he also came back from two sets down on both occasions.
And he did it against extremely difficult opponents, too. After overcoming Felix Auger-Aliassime in round two, Davidovich Fokina ousted Jakub Mensik 3-6, 4-6, 7-6(7), 6-4, 6-2 in 30 hours and 30 minutes.
Mensik served for the match at 6-5 in the third set and had a 30-0 lead in that game. The 19-year-old also had two match points in the ensuing tiebreaker, but he could not get across the finish line against a dogged competitor in Davidovich Fokina.
“I like to lose the first two sets and then comeback,” the 25-year-old joked. “I don’t know how to describe this feeling. It is the first time I have won three matches in a row in Australia and it means a lot. Coming back from two sets to love, I had never done it and now I have done it two times in a row.
“In all these years I had a lot of up and downs. I had decided this year to fight for every point. It doesn’t matter how the result is going. I don’t look at the result. I think to be quiet and just focus, to play and enjoy the match. I think that gives me a lot of strength and power to still continue.”
nice one, ADF