Thanasi Kokkinakis has been left reflecting on another frustrating loss to rising British star Jack Draper on what proved a tough day on clay for the Australian men at the Madrid Open.
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Kokkinakis was the third Aussie to bite the red dust in Wednesday's first round after losses for Alexei Popyrin and Aleksandar Vukic, but it felt the most exasperating as the resurgent Adelaide player suffered the same fate he experienced in last year's Davis Cup tie in Manchester.
On that occasion, Kokkinakis had also played a fine match, only to lose in a third-set tiebreak to Draper - and this time the 22-year-old Briton again held firm in another close affair to hold off the big-serving Australian 6-3 3-6 7-5 in a high-quality two-hour affair in the Arantxa Sanchez Stadium.
The defeat checked the fine recent surge of Kokkinakis, who won the recent Sarasota Open Challenger, which secured his place at the French Open while also pushing him back into the world's top-100.
After also qualifying to make the main draw in Madrid, including a striking win over former US Open champion Dominic Thiem, the 28-year-old came back strongly on Wednesday to largely dominate against left-hander Draper after the powerful Briton had quickly gone 3-0 up to control the first stanza.
With his forehand booming plenty of his 25 winners and serving down nine aces, Kokkinakis took the second set and had Draper under the cosh until the 12th game of the final set when scoreboard pressure began to crank up on the Australian and the Briton proved too resolute.
"It was a tough, I've been losing a few 7-6 in the third recently, and Kokkinakis is such an amazing player who's had some great results in his career, beating the likes of (Roger) Federer, so he can really play," said Draper.
"So I'm really proud of the way I stepped up at the key moments today."
Draper was responsible for a laudable act of sportsmanship in that final game when he asked for a point to be replayed after Kokkinakis had been disadvantaged by a noise in the crowd and served a fault.
Explaining that he believed Kokkinakis would have offered him the same courtesy if the boot had been on the other foot, Draper explained: "It's important to show some sportsmanship and it makes you feel better about yourself."
Earlier, Sydneysider Popyrin, who's looked good on clay this season, still had to give second best 7-5 6-2 to the impressive Argentine rookie Mariano Navone, who's risen to a career-high No.41 on the back of his clay-court prowess.
World No.62 Vukic then battled to take experienced Japanese Taro Daniel into a deciding set before losing 6-2 6-7 (1-7) 6-1.
Chris O'Connell and Max Purcell will both be in action on Thursday as they seek to join Alex de Minaur and Jordan Thompson, who both have byes, in the second round.
Australian Associated Press
