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Jack Draper’s outside chances of reaching the ATP Tour Finals are over after he was beaten by Alex de Minaur in the Paris Masters.
Draper had given himself hope of reaching the end-of-season showpiece in Turin after winning the Vienna Open last week.
He would have needed to win in the French capital this week and then follow it up with another strong week at a smaller event next week, but he came unstuck against De Minaur, who boosted his own chances of qualifying by provisionally moving into the final spot.
But Draper, playing his seventh match in eight days, ran out of steam against the Australian in a 5-7 6-2 6-4 third-round defeat.
And the loss could well spell the end of Draper’s impressive season, which he will look back on with immense pride, having won two titles, made his first grand slam semi-final and earned a career-high ranking in the top 20.
After such a gruelling schedule, and a three-set victory over fifth seed Taylor Fritz on Wednesday, the notoriously dogged De Minaur would have been the last man Draper would have wanted to see on the other side of the net.
But things started well and Draper put himself in control of the first set thanks to a hot spell in the where he went from 2-2 to 5-2.
He looked good to win a fourth successive game as he went to 0-30 on De Minaur’s serve, but the Australian battled hard to hold and then took advantage of a sloppy game to break back when Draper was serving for the first set.
However, the British number one regained the upper hand and was able to break again at 6-5 to take the first set.
But that is where the momentum switched as De Minaur began to take control and raced to the second set with two breaks of serve.
It appeared terminal for Draper when he was broken in the first game of the decider, which led to a smashed racket, but he clawed himself back level at 2-2 after finding a burst of energy.
That did not last, though, as De Minaur hit straight back and then eased to the finish line by winning three of the next four games.
