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British number one Jack Draper reached his third ATP final of the year with a straight-sets victory over Lorenzo Musetti at the Erste Bank Open.
The 22-year-old, playing in his second tournament since reaching the US Open semi-finals, triumphed 6-2 6-4 against the Italian world number 17 in Vienna.
But the scoreline did not tell the story of a gruelling encounter taking an hour and 48 minutes.
Having broken Musetti’s serve in the opening game, Draper recovered from being broken back to reel off four games in a row and take the first set.
Musetti, a Wimbledon semi-finalist this year, dropped serve again early in the second.
Draper, who had won their previous two matches, came through two taxing service games but Musetti’s pressure told when he levelled at 4-4.
However, the momentum swung dramatically back in Draper’s favour thanks to a wretched service game from Musetti.
A clearly exhausted Draper took a medical time-out at 5-4 but came back out to wrap up victory and reach his first final at ATP 500 level.
Draper, now up to 15th in the live world rankings, told Sky Sports: “I thought the first set was really high level from my side.
“Lorenzo is a really tough competitor and the second set was up and down, some nerves and some difficult moments. Luckily, in the end, I got it done.”
Draper is the fourth British player to reach the final in Vienna after Greg Rusedski, Tim Henman and two-time winner Andy Murray.
He will face either Karen Khachanov or second seed Alex De Minaur in the final as he bids for a second career title following his summer win in Stuttgart.
“I suppose it’s my biggest final yet,” he added. “To be in the final of a 500 after the season I’ve had, I’m incredibly grateful.”
There was disappointment for British number two Cameron Norrie, who lost 6-3 6-4 to France’s Quentin Halys in qualifying for the Paris Masters.
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