Great Britain’s hopes of reaching the Davis Cup semi-finals were hanging by a thread after Jack Draper lost the opening rubber to Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic in Malaga.
Draper’s 7-6 (2) 7-6 (6) defeat left Cameron Norrie needing to hand Novak Djokovic just his seventh loss of the season to send the tie to a deciding doubles.
Serbia sprang a surprise by picking Kecmanovic, ranked five places above Draper at 55 in the world, ahead of their number two Laslo Djere, but the 24-year-old fully justified the decision with an impressive display.
Twenty-one-year-old Draper was unable to impose his big game on the match and came out on the wrong end of two tie-breaks in a contest lasting two hours and two minutes.
The tie did not get under way until 6.10pm, more than two hours later than billed, because of the over-running first match of the day between Italy and the Netherlands.
Around 5,000 British fans, including Dan Evans, who was forced out of the event through injury after playing the leading role in qualification, made up the majority of a virtually full crowd at the Palacio de Deportes Martin Carpena.
The International Tennis Federation’s decision to move away from the traditional home-and-away format and to a World Cup-style event has been unpopular with players and fans, but this was the sort of occasion they would have envisaged.
It was a huge moment for Draper, who only played his first match in the competition in September in Manchester and now found British hopes depending on him given the presence of Djokovic in the second rubber.
He could draw on better recent form than Kecmanovic, having reached his first ATP Tour final in Sofia earlier this month while the Serbian had lost his last four matches, and also won their only previous meeting on clay in May.
But Kecmanovic is a quality player who was ranked in the top 30 at the start of the year and, despite three aces in his first service game from Draper, it was the Serbian who was the more impressive in the early stages.
Draper had to dig deep to save two break points in a long eighth game and then found himself facing two set points at 4-5, which he again fought off in gutsy fashion.
But two double faults cost him dearly in the tie-break and left him with a lot of work to do to turn the match around.
Neither man faced a break point in the second set, but again it was Kecmanovic who looked the more convincing on serve.
After losing five points in a row from 2-0 up in the tie-break, Draper did well to level at 5-5 and then save a match point with a volley that just caught the line, but a wayward forehand gave Kecmanovic a second chance and this time the British youngster netted a return.
Djokovic marches into 10th Shanghai quarter-final
Novak Djokovic saw off Roman Safiullin to reach his 10th Shanghai Masters quarter-final with a straight-sets win on Wednesday.
The Serb, a four-time champion in the tournament, rallied to a 6-3 6-2 victory in just 74 minutes.
Djokovic made a lightning-quick start, serving to love to win the opening game, but had to remain patient as he waited for an opening, which he found with a three-game winning streak at the end of the first set.
Any hopes Safiullin had of a comeback were then squashed as he saw his serve broken first in the second.
Djokovic was clinical from that point, defending a break point – his third in the match – before claiming another break on his way to a comfortable victory.
As his hunt for a 100th tour-level title goes on, Jakub Mensik now stands between Djokovic and a place in the last four.
Data Debrief: Djokovic continues Shanghai dominance
At his 95th at ATP Masters 1000 events overall, Djokovic has become the first player to reach 10 quarter-finals at the Shanghai Masters, since its inauguration in 2009.
It was also his 37th win at the tournament, extending his own record as he keeps the title in his sights.
If he can get his hands on the trophy, he would be just the third man to win 100 tour-level titles in the Open Era (after Jimmy Connors and Roger Federer).
Gauff breezes past Tomova in Wuhan opener
Coco Gauff cruised through her first-ever match at the Wuhan Open with a comfortable straight-sets win over Viktoriya Tomova.
Fresh from winning the China Open on Sunday, Gauff returned to action with a 6-1 6-2 victory in 76 minutes.
The American was given an early scare as her serve was broken in the first game, but she recovered brilliantly, storming through the next six in a row to take the first set.
She picked up where she left off in the second, winning 10 games on the bounce. Despite Tomova showing some late fight after Gauff was 4-0 up, the world number three had already done enough.
Gauff won 15 of 32 first return points (47%), and dominated on her own serve after the early blip, hitting five aces, and winning 83% of her first serve points (24/29).
She will face Magda Linette or Daria Kasatkina in the round of 16.
Data Debrief: Gauff defies age once again
Only Caroline Wozniacki in 2010 (27) has won more WTA-1000 matches in a year than Gauff in 2024 (22) before turning 21, since the format was introduced in 2009. She has equalled Iga Swiatek's record from 2022 (also 22 wins).
In fact, only Swiatek (30) and Aryna Sabalenka (24) have won more WTA-1000 matches than her in 2024, as she extended her winning streak to seven matches.
Among players to have played 10 or more matches in China in the 21st century, Gauff has the highest winning percentage in events played in the country (91.7%, 11-1).
Alcaraz battles past Monfils to keep winning streak alive
Carlos Alcaraz battled past Gael Monfils, becoming the first Spaniard to reach the Shanghai Masters quarter-final since 2017 as he kept his winning streak alive.
Having lost to the Frenchman in Cincinnati earlier this year, Alcaraz won 6-4 7-5 on Wednesday, which was his 12th victory on the bounce.
Monfils was bidding to become the second-oldest ATP Masters 1000 quarter-finalist in history at 38 years old and matched Alcaraz through the early stages, almost forcing a break.
But he could not hold onto a lead in the ninth game of the first set, and the 21-year-old took advantage.
Alcaraz did not have it all his own way in the second set despite an assured performance, which saw him serve three games to love overall.
Monfils could only defend two of three break points in the penultimate game as Alcaraz pressed home his advantage. He will meet Tomas Machac on Thursday.
"The main thing I tried in this match was to stay calm, to control my emotions and wait for my chances," said Alcaraz.
"That helped me a lot to show my best tennis during the match. I am feeling the ball really well, much more than I was during the American swing. So, I am happy to be able to do it and keep going."
Data Debrief: No stopping Alcaraz
Alcaraz has improved his record to 51-9 for the season with this win over Monfils and is into his 14th ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final.
Since the format's inception in 1990, Alcaraz (76.5%, 62-19) only trails three players for win percentage at ATP Masters 1000 events: Novak Djokovic (82.02%), Rafael Nadal (82.00%) and Roger Federer (77.9%).
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