World No.6 Jack Draper suffers another early exit, loses in crazy Monte-Carlo Masters three-setter

Jack Draper lost early in his last tournament in the form of the Miami Open albeit perhaps that wasn't the best indicator with Jakub Mensik quelling his charge who won the title. But Alejandro Davidovich Fokina handed him a defeat at the Monte-Carlo Masters.

The Spaniard defeated the World No.6 6-3, 6-7, 6-4 in the Last 16 in the traditional opener to the Roland Garros run-in in a match that Draper grew into but his hard work was rendered null and void in the final set.

He lost the opening set 6-3 to Davidovich Fokina. The Brit was seen shouting wake up to himself as he was broken to love meaning Fokina could seal the opening set on his own serve. He did just that.

The second set was even crazier as Draper came back from 3-6, 1-3 and break points down then saved a match point in the tie-break to force a deciding set. He had eight double points and was serving under 50% on his first serves so it wasn't sparkling.

Read also

Tournament Centre Monte-Carlo Masters 2025: Schedule, Draw, Results, Prize Money and TV Guide

But he managed to find a way. So did ADF down the stretch though. Ironically Draper hit the eighth and decisive double fault on match point which handed Davidovich Fokina. So while he upped his level from the opening set, it was very much which player blinked first when it came to errors.

It was Draper that did so and he will be lamenting a poor defeat after he managed to take down Marcos Giron and he has been having such a fantastic season. But Davidovich Fokina has reached the Quarter-Finals in three out of last five appearances in Monte-Carlo so very much knows what it takes to find a way through.

Draper is next signed up to play Madrid but early exits in his last two tournaments, the wonder now will be if he tries to play Barcelona or Munich in the coming weeks.

Elsewhere another top seed fell in Andrey Rublev who is now under the tutelage of Marat Safin but it isn't going well yet. Albeit the latter was under no illusion that it would take some time.

Also he received a bit of a horror draw in Arthur Fils who is in the best form of his career ironically after dumping his long-time coach so he is into yet another Quarter-Final. Casper Ruud is also on the verge of going a set down to Alexei Popyrin with Carlos Alcaraz and Medvedev-De Minaur to come.

Subscribe to our Newsletter

Unlock your ultimate tennis experience—subscribe today for exclusive access to top stories.

Subscribe