Jack Draper silences boo-boys as he channels Andy Murray to oust Thanasi Kokkinakis in five-set Australian Open epic - as Jacob Fearnley wins to set up Alexander Zverev showdown
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If Jack Draper is trying to avoid comparisons to the great Andy Murray he is going about things entirely the wrong way. Two years ago in the second round of the Australian Open, the Scot broke Thanasi Kokkinakis as he served for the match and came back to win a late-night epic.
![[Draper cupped an ear to the Australian crowd after earning a crucial break in the fourth set]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/15/13/94120635-14287715-image-a-13_1736946860550.jpg)
On Thursday, in the second round of the Australian Open, Draper broke Kokkinakis as he served for the match and…well, you get the picture. It was not as late (11.55pm rather than 4.05am) and not quite as epic but this was a thriller of which Novak Djokovic’s new coach would have been proud, and another exhibit in the growing dossier of evidence to suggest that we have someone special on our hands in Jack Draper.
![[The British No1 beat Kokkinakis in a five set epic, two years after Andy Murray did the same]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/15/13/94120647-14287715-image-a-15_1736946882760.jpg)
The final knockings read 6-7, 6-3, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 in four hours and 35 minutes. At two sets to one and 5-4 up with the wind in his sails, Kokkinakis was four points away from victory. Draper responded with his best return game of the match to break to love.
![[Kokkinakis had struggled with niggles in the shoulder, hip and leg during the second round tie]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/15/13/94120655-14287715-image-a-16_1736946916899.jpg)
Jack Draper took on the Australian crowd as he battled back to beat Thanasi Kokkinakis. Draper cupped an ear to the Australian crowd after earning a crucial break in the fourth set. The British No1 beat Kokkinakis in a five set epic, two years after Andy Murray did the same.
![[Kokkinakis, the son of Greek immigrants, was backed by a vocal Greco-Aussie crowd]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/15/13/94120897-14287715-image-a-19_1736947302633.jpg)
He even cupped an ear to the Aussie crowd; perhaps inadvisable but awfully good fun. In theory he was still a long way from the finish line; in practice you felt there was only one winner from there. In the third round, would you believe it, he plays another Aussie, Aleksandar Vukic. Draper is on his way to becoming public enemy number one round these parts.
![[Draper scrapped and fought to keep himself in the contest and eventually topple Kokkinakis]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/15/13/94120685-14287715-image-a-17_1736946954059.jpg)
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