Jack Draper's clay-court season got off to a disappointing start as he was forced to retire due to injury in the third set of his first-round match against Argentina's Tomas Martin Etcheverry at the Barcelona Open. Draper had won the first set 6-3, but struggled with his movement afterwards and had to have his right knee taped by a physio. He eventually withdrew from the match, trailing 4-1 in the third set.
Draper, who is ranked one place higher than Etcheverry, had shown promise in the first set but was clearly hindered by his knee from the start of the second set. Etcheverry, who had taken world No 2 Carlos Alcaraz to three sets on clay in Monte Carlo the previous week, took control of the match and won.
"He was playing unbelievably," Etcheverry said of Draper. "He is a great competitor and a great fighter. Hopefully, he can recover soon and get back on tour." This was 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.
He is next scheduled to play at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Madrid from April 22. Meanwhile, British No 1 Cameron Norrie advanced to the second round with a hard-fought 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 win over three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka. Norrie, who won the opening set 6-4, had to dig deep to secure the victory after Wawrinka took the second set on a tiebreak. "I was not feeling well physically, so I had to really dig deep mentally," Norrie said.
"I had to get fired up in some moments and I managed to do that in the third set when I was a couple of break points down." In other news, Katie Boulter eased into the last 16 of the Rouen Open with a dominant 6-2 6-2 win over Maria Timofeeva. The British No 3 is targeting a good run in Rouen and potentially her first clay court title of her career.