Indian Wells champion Jack Draper crashed out 7-6(2) 7-6(3) to Czech Jakub Mensik at the Miami Open on Saturday in a match that was temporarily suspended due to fan disruption.
The British No. 1, who rose to a career-high seventh in the world rankings after the winning the biggest title of his career last week, was shocked by Mensik despite breaking the 19-year-old in the first game.
Mensik hit 21 aces on his way to a win that lifts him into the third round.
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The match was temporarily suspended when a large crowd of Brazilian spectators, who were waiting to watch Joao Fonseca’s clash with Ugo Humbert due next at the same venue, expressed their anger when that match was shifted to the main stadium.
“I didn’t really know what was going on at first,” Draper told Sky Sports. “Obviously it was getting quite loud, I couldn’t really hear the ball being hit. I can understand their frustration. I just hope they were able to get on the court.”
The fans, some of whom had waited for hours at Grandstand, booed as they left the venue, but were delighted when Fonseca later got past Humbert 6-4 6-3.
“I really liked the decision, because I already played my first round there, so I knew how the court was, the atmosphere,” Fonseca, 18, said.
“I knew there was going to be a lot of Brazilians. The crowd is super nice. It’s an honour seeing a lot of them cheering for me, saying my name every match I win.”
Reilly Opelka rallied to beat Danish 11th seed Holger Rune 4-6 6-3 7-6(5) and with Draper, Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev all losing this week there are no Indian Wells semifinalists left in the men’s draw at Miami.
Information from Reuters was used in this report.
