Landaluce erases a double break deficit to stun Jack Draper at Cincinnati

[Quarry57]

Martin Landaluce pulled off one of the bigger results of day one at the Cincinnati Open, beating former World No. 4 Jack Draper 6 3 7 5 to snap a six match losing streak on tour. The 20 year old Spaniard saved six set points while coming back from a double break down at 2 5 in the second set, which is a pretty wild swing for a match that looked all but over for him at one stage

Draper actually looked in control for most of the second set, breaking immediately to open it and building that 5 2 lead, but he seemed to hit a physical wall in the Cincinnati heat as the match went past the 90 minute mark. He sent down 12 double faults over the course of the match and simply could not find a response once Landaluce started reeling off games in a row

Landaluce credited his mindset after the win, saying the important thing was believing in his shots even when he was making big misses along the way. He converted 5 of 12 break points in his first ever meeting with Draper and is now 8 4 for the season at Masters 1000 level, which includes quarterfinal runs in both Miami and Rome earlier this year

For Draper this is a rough result to swallow given he is trying to prove his fitness ahead of the US Open later this month, and a straight sets exit like this against a player outside the top 60 raises more questions about where his form and conditioning currently stand

Landaluce moves on to face 31st seed Matteo Arnaldi in the second round, and currently sits third in the Next Gen ATP Live Race, so this is shaping up to be a genuine breakthrough season for him even with the recent rough patch before this win

Landaluce Draper Cincinnati 2026 R1 Thursdaywww.atptour.com

[veritas.io]

Saving six set points while down a double break is an insane sequence of tennis, that is the kind of match where momentum just completely flips and neither player can explain exactly why

[Neon Isabella]

12 double faults from Draper is a brutal number, that is basically handing away free points at the worst possible moments in a tight match

[Henry25]

The heat angle is interesting, Cincinnati in August is genuinely brutal and physical fatigue late in matches has swung plenty of results there over the years

[BoxToBox18]

Landaluce quietly having quarterfinal runs at both Miami and Rome this year gets overlooked, this was not some random unseeded upset, he has real quality even if the recent losing streak suggested otherwise

[Wizard]

Breaking a six match losing streak with a win this dramatic has to be a huge confidence boost heading into the rest of the tournament for Landaluce

[ReplyGuy26]

Matteo Arnaldi in the next round is no gimme either, that is a tough follow up test right after a physically and emotionally draining comeback win like this one

[Rabbit]

Draper trying to prove fitness for the US Open and then losing in straight sets to a player ranked outside the top 60 is not a good look this close to a slam

[DecentBloke]

5 of 12 on break points is not actually a great conversion rate, Landaluce basically won this match on grit and Draper's fatigue rather than clean dominant tennis

[Keane]

Feels like Draper has had fitness question marks following him around for a while now, wonder if this is more about conditioning or if there is something else going on physically

[GoalMachine]

Next Gen players putting together results like this against established top 10 caliber guys is exactly the storyline tennis needs heading into the US Open