Berrettini bailout sends Draper onwards in Spain

Matteo Berrettini pulled the plug in his Madrid Masters match with Jack Draper, sending the British No. 1 into the fourth round on the clay.

The pair had been set to play on Monday but the contest was among 22 postponed due to the massive power outage which struck the Iberian peninsula.

Draper moved on 7-6 (2) in an hour when Berrettini could not go on due an injury he may have suffered in his previous match at the Caja Magica.

Fifth seeded Draper had never been past the second round in two appearances here.

The Bit now faces Tommy Paul, a 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 winner against Karen Khachanov.

The 23-year-old is now through to the last 16, where he will face Tommy Paul. Afterwards, Draper admitted he knew Berrettini’s fitness was in doubt coming into the match.

“I’m aware that he had a problem in his last match towards the end,” Draper told Sky Sports.

“Today I noticed that he wasn’t, so maybe that gave away that he was still feeling a bit of something. And his serve power was a bit down.

“”(But) he put on a really high level still. I wish him all the best. The key (for me) was staying focused, staying present.”

Draper’s compatriot Jakob Fearnley failed to match as he lost a match interrupted on Monday, taking a 6-4, 7-6 (3) loss to Grigor Dimitrov.

That contest was halted at 6-4, 5-4 when the electricity failed.