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We have a battle of the 22-year-olds in the Vienna as Italy’s Luciano Darderi faces off against Britain’s Jack Draper for a place in the quarter-finals of the Erste Bank Open
RANKING POINTS: ATP 500
START DATE/TIME: Thursday 24th October, 2024, UK – not before 12:30pm / US ET – not before 7:30am / US PT – not before 4:30am
VENUE: Wiener Stadthalle, Vienna, Austria
SURFACE: Indoor hard
HOW TO WATCH ON TV: UK – Sky Sports Tennis / US – Tennis Channel
HOW TO WATCH ONLINE: UK – Sky Go / US – Tennis Channel
TICKETS: Visit this link for the latest Luciano Darderi vs Jack Draper ticket information
LUCIANO DARDERI VS JACK DRAPER PREDICTION
Luciano Darderi overcame the retiring Dominic Thiem and the home support to win his opening match and the 22-year-old now meets Jack Draper for a place in the quarters. Darderi won a tight opening set tiebreak against Thiem and then pulled away to win the second set 6-2 in what was the Austrian legend’s last-ever match.
That win was Darderi’s first for some time as he had been eliminated in the first round of his last six tournaments. It will surely serve as a confidence-booster for him but he was favoured to win that against a player who had hung on to retire in his homeland without having played much for some time.
Jack Draper will provide a much sterner test of Darderi’s credentials in Vienna and the Brit showed no signs of the injury that has held him out for a short period as he beat Kei Nishikori. Draper blasted 11 aces on the way to a 7-6 7-5 win in a match where Nishikori was more than competitive. Draper only won 48% on his second serve so it was a good job that he was dominant on his first with 85%.
There is plenty of margin for improvement for Draper to the level he can reach but he had enough to beat Nishikori and he should have more than enough to eliminate Darderi here too.
LUCIANO DARDERI VS JACK DRAPER TIP: JACK DRAPER TO WIN