World No. 5 battles the qualifier at the Italian capital!
In his first tournament as the World No. 5, Madrid Open runner-up Jack Draper battles Vit Kopriva of the Czech Republic in the 2025 Internazionali BNL d’Italia Round of 32. Sunday’s clash between these two players will determine who enters the Round of 16 – to face either Holger Rune or Corentin Moutet. Here’s all you need to know ahead of the British starlet’s challenging match-up against the qualifier:
It will be a left vs right battle in this battle of the young guns at Foro Italico. Draper eliminated hometown hero Luciano Darderi in Round-2 in straight sets. He saved all seven break points en route to a fighting win. The 23-year-old is 9-6 on clay over the past year, winning over 28% return games during this time. Draper is leading the ATP Tour when it comes to Masters wins this year, and he has already bettered his career-best outing at the Italian capital.
While Draper is aiming to claim his 100th tour-level win on Sunday, standing in his path will be 27-year-old Vit Kopriva. After taking down Quentin Halys in Round-1, Kopriva overcame a raucous Court-14 crowd to defeat No. 32 seed Sebastian Báez on Friday. Despite an uncanny 51 unforced errors to 25 winners, the man who is undefeated in ATP Challenger Tour finals managed to enter Round-3.
Jack Draper leads the head to head against Vit Kopriva 1-0.
The solitary meeting between these two players coincidentally occurred on the same surface. Draper, an inexperienced clay courter at the time, managed to dig deep to beat Kopriva in the 2024 BMW Open Munich Round of 32. His 75% first serve percentage pushed him over the line on that occasion, and Draper will hope for more of the same on Sunday.
| Event | Round | Winner | Score |
| 2024 Munich | Round of 32 | Jack Draper | 6-1 5-7 6-4 |
| Jack Draper | Category | Vit Kopriva |
| 0 | Grand Slams | 0 |
| 3 | ATP Singles Titles | 0 |
| 0 | ATP Doubles Titles | 0 |
| 1 | Masters-1000 Titles | 0 |
| 1 | ATP-500 Titles | 0 |
| R2 (Paris 2024) | Olympics Best Performance | – |
| No. 5 | Current World Ranking | No. 92 |
The court conditions in Rome are very slow and at a lower altitude – making it tougher for players like Draper who hit through the line. However, Kopriva was aided by Baez’s inability to finish off points in their Round-2 battle. If he engages in cross-court backhand exchanges with Draper, it will fall to his favoured forehand side. The Brit is likely to take full advantage of Kopriva’s lacklustre serve to emerge victorious.
Prediction: Jack Draper in straight sets.
The market shows minimal change ahead of Draper’s Round-3 match against Vit Kopriva. Most sites predict a heavy favourite – with the southpaw likely to win in straight sets.
Jack Draper Win: 1.17
Vit Kopriva Win: 5.0
(According to Bet365)
