Jack Draper flies Alto, surprises Alcaraz and arrives at his first Master 1000 final in Indian Wells | ATP Tour

Indian Wells

Draper flies high, surprises Alcaraz and arrives at his first Master 1000 final in Indian Wells

The 23 -year -old British will debut at the Top 10 of the PIF ATP Rankings on Monday

March 16, 2025

Jack Draper fought, wore and did it: he reached his first ATP Masters 1000 final style on Saturday by beating the twice defender champion Carlos Alcaraz at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.

The 23-year-old British responded with courage to break the streak of 16 consecutive Alcaraz victories in the first ATP Masters 1000 of the season with a worked 6-1, 0-6 and 6-4 victory. The triumph assured Draper on Monday for the first time in his career in the Top 10 of the PIF ATP Rankings.

“It was a strange game, with all honesty,” Draper said, who is now 2-3 in his series Lexus ATP Head2head with Alcaraz. “Carlos came out a little off, I noticed.

Alcaraz aspired to become the first player born in 1991 or later to win three consecutive singles titles in an ATP Tour event, but could not take advantage of his impulse in the last set. Draper was attentive to the change of Spanish to a deeper return position in the second set, and limited his ability to attack from the background taking advantage of his strong right -wing blows.

However, the closure was not easy for the winner. He could not close it to the serve in the 5-2 of the final sleeve when Alcaraz, five times champion of a 1000 Masters of the ATP, began to take two consecutive games to trace to 4-5. However, Draper remained firm and added his second victory of the week over a top-5, after defeating the world No. 4 of the world, Taylor Fritz.

The second series, Alcaraz, had to regret a first set in which he made 13 united errors and only succeeded 38% of his first serves, according to Infosys ATP Stats.

The British, in addition, became the fifth player of his finalist country of an ATP Masters 1000 after Andy Murray (21), Tim Henman (4), Greg Rusedski (2) and Cameron Norrie. Meanwhile, Draper, two times champion of the circuit, will face Holger Rune in the first final between two players born in the 2000s above the ATP 500 level.