Draper withstands Khachanov in dramatic Vienna final

pIt was a sigh of relief for a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/jack-draper/d0co/overview'Jack Draper/a on Sunday after he withstood a late charge from a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/karen-khachanov/ke29/overview'Karen Khachanov/a to clinch the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/vienna/337/overview'Erste Bank Open/a title.nbsp;/p

pThe Briton stood firm in a 6-4, 7-5 triumph to secure his second ATP Tour title. Trailing 0-4 in the second set, Khachanov rattled off five consecutive games to shift the momentum firmly in his favour. However, Draper dialled back in to win the biggest title of his career./p

pldquo;I was playing so good, and then the momentum shifted,rdquo; said Draper, who improved to 37-21 on the season. ldquo;Honestly, I didnrsquo;t feel too nervous or tight, I just missed a few balls and made some wrong decisions, and Karen picked up his level. Thatrsquo;s a testament to how good he is, hersquo;s a fighter and hersquo;s in great form./p

pldquo;It got really tight there, but I stayed solid and in a good mental frame. Luckily I was able to come through, it was a relief. To win my first ATP 500, it feels incredible. I am incredibly happy and so proud of myself and my team. Itrsquo;s for moments like this, so I am going to enjoy it.rdquo;/p

blockquote class="twitter-tweet"

p lang="en" dir="ltr"Nothing short of sensational ⚡️br /

br /

Magnificent a href="https://twitter.com/jackdraper0?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"@jackdraper0/a dazzles his way to the title in Vienna! a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ErsteBankOpen?src=hashamp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"#ErsteBankOpen/a | a href="https://twitter.com/ErsteBankOpen?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"@ErsteBankOpen/a a href="https://t.co/mZaDFj2Hyt"pic.twitter.com/mZaDFj2Hyt/a/p

mdash; ATP Tour (@atptour) a href="https://twitter.com/atptour/status/1850550903486742783?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"October 27, 2024/a/blockquote

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pWith his one-hour 35-minute triumph, Draper became the first player to win the tournament on his debut since countryman a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/andy-murray/mc10/overview'Andy Murray/a did so in 2014. In a stellar season, the 22-year-old will rise to a new career-high of No. 15 in the PIF ATP Rankings on Monday./p

pPrior to Sunday's championship match, Khachanov held a perfect 4-0 record in indoor tour-level finals. The 28-year-old was also on an eight-match winning streak after lifting his seventh ATP Tour title last week in Almaty, but was unable to force a deciding set.nbsp;/p

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pldquo;I want to congratulate Jack and his team for this win, you deserved that,rdquo; said Khachanov. ldquo;You went for it the whole week. You are rising up this season and I wish you all the success in the future. Irsquo;m looking forward to sharing the court again and taking revenge for this loss./p

pldquo;Once yoursquo;re in the final, yoursquo;re thinking about winning it. But I canrsquo;t complain, the last two weeks have been great. Coming from winning last week and playing the final here in Vienna for the first time, I just want to thank my team./p

pldquo;I was close to coming back, and that just shows you need to stay there, be positive and fight hard. [We have] a great example here of doing that in Thomas [Muster].rdquo;/p

blockquote class="twitter-tweet"

p lang="en" dir="ltr"Your champion a href="https://twitter.com/jackdraper0?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"@jackdraper0/a a href="https://twitter.com/ErsteBankOpen?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"@ErsteBankOpen/a a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TennisInsights?src=hashamp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"#TennisInsights/a | a href="https://twitter.com/atptour?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"@atptour/a | a href="https://twitter.com/ErsteBankOpen?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"@ErsteBankOpen/a a href="https://t.co/PvKyYAQLN7"pic.twitter.com/PvKyYAQLN7/a/p

mdash; Tennis Insights (@tennis_insights) a href="https://twitter.com/tennis_insights/status/1850551232210829730?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"October 27, 2024/a/blockquote

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pHaving levelled the pair's Lexus ATP Head2Head series at 2-2, Draper became just the fourth British man to win an ATP 500 title.nbsp;/p

pDraper was imperious on serve throughout the first set, during which he won 95 per cent (18/19) of points behind his first delivery, according to Infosys ATP Stats. In a pendulum-swinging second set, Khachanov ignited some of his most scintillating tennis, but it was Draper who held his nerve to cross the line./p

p[NEWSLETTER FORM]/p