Jack Draper’s friendship with Jannik Sinner is on the backburner with the pair on a collision course to meet in the quarter-finals of the French Open.
British number one Draper breezed into the fourth round with a commanding 6-2 6-4 6-2 win over Brazilian teenager Joao Fonseca.
The 23-year-old will play world number 62 Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan on Monday for a place in the last eight, where world number one Sinner is likely to be waiting.
Sinner and Draper have been good friends off the court for some time and regularly practice together, but the Italian admits things have changed.
“I’m very happy to have him as a friend, but he’s now there, things are a little bit different,” he said.
“Of course, you know, we are very good friends off the court, but we practice a little bit less together, because we might know that we can face each other in the later stages of tournaments hopefully, because I always love to play against him.”
Draper extended his stay in Paris into the second week after thudding 32 winners past 18-year-old Fonseca and completing a statement win in just one hour and 46 minutes.
“I think it was a solid performance from my side, I did a good job,” said Draper.
“It was tough conditions. I felt like I started off well, and my level didn’t really dip throughout the match. It was a good match against a good, up-and-coming player.”
Fonseca is a precocious talent who brings a huge, noisy contingent of supporters from his homeland wherever he goes.
There were fans in the famous yellow football shirts dotted all around Court Suzanne-Lenglen and they were making themselves heard throughout the early stages.
But Draper, who dealt with a partisan crowd when he beat 38-year-old Frenchman Gael Monfils on Thursday night, quickly dampened the South American enthusiasm.
“Mentally it was a good performance from me,” added the fifth seed. “I’m happy to be in the second week here and hopefully there’s more to come.
“My first two rounds, I played at night. Playing against Gael the other night, I didn’t think I could hit the ball past him.
“It was so cold and I couldn’t really do much but today the ball was getting up more and the faster conditions definitely suit me. Either way, I will be ready for my next round.
“Joao has caught the attention of everyone on tour, the players and the fans. Today my experience came through.
“I don’t think he has played as many grand slams as I have but he has got an unbelievably bright future so all the best to him.”
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