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Australian Max Purcell's dream run as a lucky loser in the Eastbourne International has finally been ended in the semi-finals by Italian Lorenzo Sonego.
For a brief but glorious spell, it looked as if Australian Max Purcell might continue his amazing breakthrough run in the Eastbourne International - but his dream run has finally been ended by Italian Lorenzo Sonego.
The 23-year-old Sydneysider Purcell was struggling with a back injury and being hammered in his first-ever ATP Tour semi-final on the Devonshire Park grass on Friday but found remarkable spirit after a medical timeout to battle back and take the match into a deciding set.
But his fairytale failed to get the ending it deserved as No.3 seed Sonego regrouped, gained an early break in the decider and powered to a 6-1 3-6 6-1 victory after an hour and 38 minutes.
Purcell, the world No.283, had given the ever-improving world No.27 a real run for his money as Sonego acknowledged afterwards when he noted: "Max is a great player, he played unbelievable at the net - and it wasn't easy today."
Before this week, Purcell had, incredibly, only ever won one tour-level match in a career stretching back six years.
Yet after he'd been knocked out in qualifying, he was reinstated as a 'lucky loser' when others pulled out and he took advantage by beating higher-ranked Australian James Duckworth, world No.16 Gael Monfils and former Eastbourne champ Andreas Seppi.
"That was my sixth three-setter in seven days, with a doubles match on one of the days as well, it probably became a little bit too much tennis after not doing a whole lot in the last two weeks with a little bit of an injury, so I'm pretty proud of my efforts," said Purcell.
"And, fingers crossed, I can start doing some similar damage in more tournaments like this."
At the end of the first set, he was given treatment to a back injury he'd picked up in Thursday's win over Seppi, which had worsened during the opening stanza, and he made a dramatic recovery in the second, attacking more at the net to quite wrong-foot Sonego.
Ultimately, though, it was the Italian who goes forward to take on either Australian No.1 Alex de Minaur or Korea's Soonwoo Kwon, who were meeting in the second semi-final on Friday.
