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Jack Draper missed out on the chance of a spot in the Lexus Eastbourne Open as Ugo Humbert defeated the Brit in straight sets to end his positive return to action following injury.
There will be plenty of positives for the 24-year-old, gaining valuable minutes on the grass court ahead of Wimbledon while also building confidence with three consecutive straight-set wins to reach the semi-final in his first tournament in more than two months.
Ugo, who was celebrating his birthday on the south coast today, was in impressive form throughout the 100 minutes under scorching conditions in Eastbourne, eventually beating Draper 7-5, 6-3.
The former world number four and his coaching team, which now includes two-time Wimbledon champion Andy Murray, will turn their attention to the All England Club as he will take on sixth seed Taylor Fritz in a tough opening round, which begins on Monday.
Speaking about Draper after his victory, Humbert said: “It’s nice to see Jack back on the court. He was really impressive and I think I was a bit lucky in the second set.”
In an evenly-battled first set, with both players comfortably getting through their service games, the Frenchman raised his level on Draper’s serve at 6-5 to take the opening set on his fourth break point chance.
Frustrations boiled over for Draper at the end of that game, sending a tennis ball well into the air and out of centre court, but he was quickly seeking a breakthrough in the early stages of the second.
However, when he missed out on four break points in Humbert’s service game that lasted nearly 14 minutes at 2-1, the sixth seed took further control of the match and after a hold to love in the game, the world number 30 stamped his place in the final on Saturday.
He will take on Belgium’s Zizou Bergs, who defeated lucky loser and Brit Toby Samuel’s dream run at Eastbourne.
