Draper cruises past Lehecka into Paris second round
Written by I Dig SportsBritish number one Jack Draper cruised through to the second round of the Paris Masters with a straight-set win over the Czech Republic's Jiri Lehecka.
Draper, who won the biggest title of his career in Vienna on Sunday, won 7-5 6-2 in one hour eight minutes.
A tight first set went to serve before Draper made the crucial break in the 11th game.
The Briton dominated the second set, reeling off five games in a row to seal victory.
He will now face American fifth seed Taylor Fritz in the second round on Wednesday.
The 22-year-old left-hander, who reached his maiden Grand Slam semi-final at the US Open last month, rose to a career-high ranking of 15th in the world on Monday.
Spain's Carlos Alcaraz is through to the third round after a 7-5 6-1 win over Chilean Nicolas Jarry.
The second seed, who was given a bye in the first round, will face France's Ugo Humbert or American Marcos Giron in the last 16.
Australia's Alex de Minaur boosted his chances of qualifying for the season-ending ATP Finals with a 7-5 6-1 first-round win over Mariano Navone of Argentina.
De Minaur will replace Andrey Rublev in the final qualification position with a run to the quarter-finals in Paris and plays Serbia's Miomir Kecmanovic next.
Russian sixth seed Rublev, who was also given a first-round bye, is out after a 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-5) defeat by Argentina's Francisco Cerundolo.