British No.1 tennis star Jack Draper has downed Aleksandar Vukic 6-4 2-6 5-7 7-6 7-6 to reach the fourth round at the 2025 Australian Open.
Draper, seeded 15th, is the last Briton left standing in the men’s singles at Melbourne Park and once again needed five sets to defeat his opponent.
The 23-year-old, who reached the US Open semi-finals last year, also went the full distance in his wins over Thanasi Kokkinakis and Mariano Navone.
Draper faces a massive test in his next match at the Grand Slam as he locks horns with third-seed Carlos Alcaraz, who is the current Wimbledon and French Open champion.
The Briton, No.18 in the world rankings, came from two sets to one down for the third match in a row against Vukic, this time in four hours.
‘Alex played incredible,’ Draper said in his on-court interview after knocking out the Australian world No.68 in front of a devastated home crowd.
‘It was an unbelievably tough match. Both of us played a lot of sets in our first couple of rounds so I knew it was going to be a really tough match.
‘There were so many ebbs and flows and it was just great tennis and I appreciate you guys staying up so late for us. It was a great match.’
Quizzed on giving up a 3-1 lead in the fifth set, Draper added: ‘I thought it was done and he just came back from the death.
‘He was playing incredibly. We’re suffering a lot in five sets and you get a lot of energy when you hold serve after 15-40.
‘It was just a great battle with two competitors going at it and that’s what this sport is all about.’
Draper goes into his clash against Alcaraz as an underdog but knows he is capable of victory after beating the Spaniard at Queen’s Club last year.
That particular victory saw Draper compared to British legend Andy Murray by tennis commentator Andrew Castle.
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