Thompson on the march in Montreal with defeat of Draper

Australia’s Jordan Thompson, runner-up in the recent Wimbledon men’s doubles, has set up a last-32 showdown with second seed Alexander Zverev after defeating British No.1 Jack Draper at the Canadian Open in Montreal.

Thompson won 7-5 6-2 in little over an hour and a half against a British opponent who was playing his first hard-court singles match since the Miami Masters in March on the back of last week’s second-round exit to Taylor Fritz on clay at the Paris Olympics.

With the final grand slam tournament of the year scheduled to begin at Flushing Meadows on August 26, world No. 30 Thompson seized the initiative with a break in game seven and eventually capitalized on his third set point after the Briton briefly brought the match back on serve.

Draper, who is partnering Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner in the doubles draw, dug in to save two break points in his opening service game of the second set and produced some eye-catching winners during the contest.

But costly double faults in games three and seven helped gift his 30-year-old opponent a route into round two.