Britain's Dan Evans falls outside of the top 50 rankings following his defeat to Brandon Nakashima; you can watch Barcelona and Stuttgart this week, exclusively live on Sky Sports Tennis
Monday 15 April 2024 19:15, UK
Jack Draper booked his spot in the second round of the BMW Open on Monday as he beat Vit Kopriva after Dan Evans was knocked out of the Barcelona Open following defeat to Brandon Nakashima.
Draper cruised through the opening set 6-1 before being pegged back 7-5 in the second and eventually getting over the line by sealing the third in 6-4.
Having been delayed by rain earlier in the day, Draper would come through his setback in the second set to claim a 50th ATP Tour level victory.
"The match was going my way and then Kopriva came up with amazing tennis and it was hard to get over the line but I'm proud that I did," said Draper.
"It was difficult waiting for the rain delay, because you stop and go again and then stop, so thank you to the crowd for supporting us in this weather. It makes a massive difference."
Earlier in the day Evans was knocked out of the Barcelona Open after losing 7-6 6-2 to American Nakashima.
Nakashima, who is ranked No 87, will play second seed Andrey Rublev next while Britain's Evans falls outside of the top 50 rankings following his defeat.
It was Evans' third consecutive opening-round defeat on clay after the Brit also lost during the first round at the Grand Prix Hassan II in Marrakesh and Monte-Carlo Open last week.
Nakashima raced to a 4-1 lead in the first set as he capitalised on Evan's mistakes but the Brit was able to crawl himself back into the game after recovering from a shaky start.
The first set went to a tie-breaker which Nakashima won after playing some bold cross-court overhead shots that saw him claim the first set.
Evans took the lead in the second set but struggled with his return which allowed Nakashima to dominate the rest of play and claim an easy victory over the Brit in just over two hours.
The American will now look towards avenging his 2021 San Diego defeat against Rublev when the pair meet next.
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