Great Britain’s Jack Draper beat Vit Kopriva to reach the last 16 of the Italian Open but his frustration boiled over during a straight-set win.
Although the fifth seed won 6-4 6-3 in Rome, he was made to work hard to close out the victory and at one point hit the court multiple times with his racquet.
Draper, who came into the tournament on the back of reaching the Madrid Open final, held serve throughout and took the first set in 41 minutes, saving one break point.
But it was by no means plain sailing in the second as Czech qualifier Kopriva saved four break points to cut his deficit to 3-2.
After world number five Draper gave him the game by sending a drop shot into the net, he struck the clay four times with his racquet before slamming it on to the floor by his chair.
The 23-year-old left three divots in the centre of the court – and his racquet in tatters – and received a warning from the umpire.
Kopriva went 40-0 up in the following game but the world number 92 spurned the chance to break back as he sent a straightforward backhand long.
Draper regrouped to hold his serve and take a 4-2 lead, before setting up the chance to break Kopriva for the second time in the set – and the third overall.
Again Kopriva proved stubborn opposition by saving two match points, the second after a bad bounce on one of the divots left by Draper forced an error from the British number one.
But Draper clinched victory at the third time of asking, having hit twice as many winners as Kopriva (21-10), although Draper did notch up more unforced errors (37-27).
