Australian Open 2025: Jack Draper battles through another marathon clash to set up Carlos Alcaraz showdown

Marathon man Jack Draper survived a third consecutive five-set match to set up a fourth-round clash with Carlos Alcaraz at the Australian Open.

After going the distance against both Mariano Navone and Thanasi Kokkinakis, Draper again came from two sets to one down to see off unseeded Australian Aleksandar Vukic.

This time he could not be separated from his unheralded but impressive opponent until a deciding tie-break, which he just edged to clinch a 6-4 2-6 5-7 7-6 (5) 7-6 (10-8) victory at 12.55am.

Draper barely had the energy to celebrate, saying in his on-court interview: "Firstly Alex played incredible, it was an unbelievably tough match. There were so many ebbs and flows.

"It was just great tennis. I thought it was done and he just came back from the dead. We're suffering a lot in five sets and sometimes you get little bits of energy. It was just a great battle. Two competitors going at it. That's what sport's about

"My body doesn't feel too great but luckily I've got a good physio. I've loved the atmosphere and it's given me a lot of energy to keep on pushing, keep on pushing and I'm surprising myself."

Draper has spent more than 12 and a half hours on court during his three matches and he must now try to recover for a first grand slam meeting with third seed Alcaraz on Sunday.

On facing the Spaniard, who he beat at Queen's Club last summer, Draper said: "I don't want to think about him yet. Carlos is a special talent and someone I have a good friendship with. Hopefully it will be an unbelievable contest."

Vukic, one of the growing band of male players to come into the professional game through the US college system, is peaking in his late 20s and pulled off one of the best wins of his career in the previous round against Sebastian Korda.

He began the match brilliantly, breaking Draper's serve in the first game, but the 23-year-old, who has been playing catch-up after a hip injury, steadied himself well.

He hit a winner around the net post in the seventh game and retrieved the break to love in the next game before winning the set with a well-disguised drop shot.

Draper might have known the second would not go his way when he walked out to serve having put a new shirt on the wrong way around. He was 5-0 down before he managed to break Vukic, but the set was long gone.

Both men had served superbly in the third set until two extremely costly double faults from Draper at 30-30 in the 11th game handed his opponent the chance to serve for the set.

He had two opportunities to take it to a tie-break but could not take either and, after a serve flew past him at deuce, Draper's frustration boiled over and he smashed his racket twice on the court and then again when he walked back to his bench, leaving it lying discarded as Vukic sent down an ace.

The crowd responded with boos, and Draper gestured to the fans, but his main frustration was with himself.

The British number one headed off court for a bathroom break before trying to repair the damage in the fourth set, but more break points came and went at 2-1, while he did well to repel pressure on his own serve, recovering from 0-40 in the next game.

Vukic saved two set points at 5-6 and there was nothing between them in a tense tie-break until Draper forced the error at 5-5 and levelled the match.

Vukic seemed to be tiring, and Draper was a heavy favourite when he finally broke the Australian's serve for the first time since the second set at 1-1 and then had four chances to make it 4-1.

But Vukic dug in and fed off the energy of the crowd to make it to the tie-break, where there was still little to choose between them until a final serve from Draper took him across the line.