Jack Draper beats Alexander Bublik to reach Adelaide International final

Britain's Jack Draper is into the final of the Adelaide International after beating eighth seed Alexander Bublik.

The 22-year-old continued his promising Australian Open build-up with a 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 win over the Kazakh.

Draper will face Czech Jiri Lehecka in his second successive ATP final, having ended 2023 as runner-up to Adrian Mannarino at the Sofia Open.

Also on Friday, Britain's Oliver Crawford was beaten in the final round of qualifying for the Australian Open.

The 24-year-old, bidding to reach the main draw of a major for the first time, fell to a 6-4 6-4 defeat by Czech Vit Kopriva.

Crawford, who was born in South Carolina to two parents from Birmingham, switched his nationality from the United States last week.

He was the only Briton to reach the final round of qualifying and his defeat means there will be seven British singles players at the first Grand Slam of 2024 - Draper, Andy Murray, Emma Raducanu, Cameron Norrie, Katie Boulter, Dan Evans and Jodie Burrage.

• Raducanu 'feeling good' before Australian Open return

Draper's fine form continues

Draper, who is bidding for a first title on the ATP Tour, enjoyed a confident start as he broke early to take a 2-0 lead.

However, Bublik broke back immediately and the pair were evenly matched with the world number 31 saving a set point at 6-5 before forcing a tie-break.

The British number four claimed a mini-break to go 4-2 up before closing out a gruelling hour-long first set in hot conditions.

Bublik entertained the crowd with dazzling drop shots as the players exchanged holds at the start of the second set, but he became frustrated when Draper broke and consolidated for a 4-2 lead.

Draper maintained his advantage and needed only the first of three match points to set up a final with world number 32 Lehecka, who thrashed American third seed Sebastian Korda 6-2 6-1 earlier on Friday.

"I'm very proud of myself. It was a tough match against a guy who is very unpredictable," Draper said in his on-court interview.

"It's really fun to play him and to watch him play as well. It's not a very good mix when you've got a guy serving 136 miles per hour and you can't see the ball because the sun is coming on to the court, but it was a really good match."

Saturday's final comes before Draper takes on American Marcos Giron in the first round of the Australian Open, which gets under way in Melbourne on Sunday.

Asked what it would mean to win his first ATP title, Draper said: "It would mean a lot to me. I came here, I made the semi-final - I have gone one further this year. I made my first final on the back end of last year and I'm in the final again so I am really hoping I can get it over the line."

Britain's Salisbury into doubles final

Britain's Joe Salisbury is into the final of the doubles in Adelaide with American partner Rajeev Ram after the third seeds defeated Jan Zielinski and Hugo Nys 7-6 (7-4) 5-7 10-6.

The pair, who won the Australian Open together in 2020, will take on second seeds Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden in Saturday's final.

In the women's singles, world number five Jessica Pegula withdrew from her semi-final with Russian Daria Kasatkina because of illness.

Kasatikina will play Latvia's sixth seed Jeļena Ostapenko, who overcame Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia 6-2 7-6 (7-3).

Elsewhere, top seed Ben Shelton fell to a 7-5 7-6 (11-9) defeat by Japan's world number 74 Taro Daniel in the Auckland Classic semi-finals.

Sixth seed Arthur Fils was also beaten by a lower-ranked opponent in his semi-final in Auckland as he lost 6-2 7-5 to Chile's Alejandro Tabilo, ranked 82nd.

Meanwhile, the top two seeds will meet in the final of the Hobart International, with Belgium's Elise Mertens claiming her spot with a 6-4 4-6 7-5 victory over Australia's Daria Saville, while American second seed Emma Navarro beat China's Yue Yuan 6-4 6-3.

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