Japan Open: Jack Draper forced to retire in quarter-final clash against Ugo Humbert due to abdominal injury

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Jack Draper has certainly experienced an eventful 2024, with many peaks and troughs. Unfortunately, his match against Ugo Humbert fell into the latter category, as an abdominal injury forced him to retire from the quarter-final clash in Tokyo. Draper went toe-to-toe with the Frenchman, but the abdominal issue surfaced with Humbert leading 5-4 in the opener.

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Jack Draper was forced to retire from his Japan Open quarter-final clash due to an apparent abdominal injury.

The contest was curtailed after one hour and 12 minutes with the Frenchman leading 7-5 2-1. He progresses to the semi-finals, where he will face Tomas Machac.

Machac advanced to the last four following a 7-6(2) 6-3 win over American Alex Michelsen, completing the job in one hour and 36 minutes.

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The British No. 1 showed plenty of grit to twice break through Humbert's serve and claimed a hard-fought hold at 3-3, swatting away four break points in the process.

But Draper was visibly struggling and faced a medical timeout with the score at 5-4 in the first set, before soldiering on as Humbert claimed the opener.

Play was then curtailed 16 minutes in the second set, with Humbert holding a 2-1 lead, as Draper shook his head to signal the end of the contest.

It has been a turbulent hard-court season for the 22-year-old, with the peak arguably coming at Flushing Meadows in his run to the US Open semi-finals.

He was beaten by world No. 1 Jannik Sinner in straight sets, whilst appearing to struggle with nausea. He then represented Great Britain at the Davis Cup.

Draper suffered defeats to Argentina's Francisco Cerundolo and Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada, as Great Britain failed to progress into the Final 8 tournament in Malaga next month.

However, the Brit had a resurgence in form in Tokyo, dispatching Italian Mattia Bellucci and world No.8 Hubert Hurkacz - both in straight sets.

That victory over Hurkacz laid down a marker, in what was Draper’s third win over a top-10 ranked opponent in 2024 after he beat Carlos Alcaraz and Alex de Minaur earlier this year.

Draper will hope to be fit for the ATP Masters event in Shanghai, which begins next Wednesday.

Rune dispatches Nishikori

Holger Rune is currently the highest-ranked player left in the competition, after beating Japanese player Kei Nishikori 3-6 6-2 7-5 in the quarter-finals.

Nishikori made a fine start to take the opener 6-3, but the young Dane fought back to take the second set 6-2, forcing a decider.

However, Rune was troubled throughout the match on his serve. He wrestled out of deuce to take an important hold at 3-2, but was broken on his next service game.

The 21-year-old needed some medical treatment on his thigh, and the match appeared to take its toll on Nishikori, who also needed attention from his trainer.

Rune restored parity at 5-5 as the former US Open runner-up failed to serve out the match, and it was the Dane who prevailed 7-5 in the decider to reach the semi-finals.

Meanwhile, Ben Shelton plays Frenchman Arthur Fils in the other remaining last-eight clash.

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