Paris Masters: Jack Draper beats Taylor Fritz and continues his winning streak

Fritz was one step better than Draper at Flushing Meadows and reached the final before losing to Jannik Sinner.

But this time he had to admit defeat in an exciting match.

An impressive forehand winner after chasing a Fritz smash helped Draper take the first set in a tiebreak, but the second set threatened to swing towards the world number six.

With the score at 3-2, Draper failed to score any of the six break points in a marathon Fritz service game that included ten deuces. The American broke through to victory in the next game, taking the set and tying the game.

But Draper, who only left the court in Vienna on Sunday afternoon and beat Czech Jiri Lehecka on Tuesday, resisted the momentum and struggled when his energy level seemed to waver.

He made good use of his strong left-handed serve throughout and took advantage of a wild double fault from Fritz at the end of a tight deciding set to win the bout on his first match point.

“It's the end of the season – a lot of people are feeling bad, not just myself,” Draper added.

“I will continue to fight for every point, no matter how I feel.”

Former Russian fifth place finisher Daniil Medvedev was beaten by Australian Alexei Popyrin 6:4, 2:6, 7:6 (7:4).

But third seed Alexander Zverev and eighth seed Grigor Dimitrov both advanced with wins against Tallon Griekspoor and Tomas Martin Etcheverry respectively.

In the last game of the day the Frenchman Arthur Cazaux – a lucky loser ranked 85th in the world – American world number 19 Ben Shelton stunned 6:3, 7:6 (7:4) in front of a loud home crowd.