Jack Draper’s start to the clay-court season began in disappointing fashion as he retired injured late in the deciding third set of his first-round match against Argentine Tomas Martin Etcheverry at the Barcelona Open.
Despite winning the first set in his first match since his second-round exit from the hard-court Miami Open on March 20, Draper struggled with his movement thereafter and had tape applied below his right knee by a physio in the break between second and third sets.
But after losing the second set 6-3, Draper had just been broken for the second time and trailed Etcheverry by 4-1 in the third before withdrawing from the match.
Draper, ranked one place higher than his opponent in the ATP rankings, had started promisingly to take the first set 6-3 but was clearly hindered with his knee from the start of the second set as Etcheverry, who had last week taken world No 2 Carlos Alcaraz to three sets on the clay in Monte Carlo, soon took control.
“He was playing unbelievable,” said Etcheverry.
“He is a great competitor. I liked how he plays. He’s a great fighter and hopefully he can recover as soon as he can to get back on tour because the tour likes him.”
This content is provided by Twitter, which may be using cookies and other technologies.
To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies.
You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable Twitter cookies or to allow those cookies just once.
You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options.
Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Twitter cookies.
To view this content you can use the button below to allow Twitter cookies for this session only.
Enable Cookies
Allow Cookies Once
Barcelona had represented only Draper’s fourth tournament back on the ATP Tour since a left-arm injury had kept him sidelined since last August’s US Open, with Etcheverry representing the eighth match of his return.
He is next due to play at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Madrid from April 22, where he reached the final last year before losing to Casper Ruud.
Etcheverry will now play either Portugal’s Nuno Borges or France’s Adrian Mannarino in the second round at Real Club de Tenis Barcelona.
Watch the ATP and WTA Tours, live on Sky Sports or stream with NOW and the Sky Sports app, giving Sky Sports customers access to over 50 per cent more live sport this year at no extra cost. Find out more here.