After his big win over Carlos Alcaraz, Jack Draper finished his remarkable run in the California desert with his strongest performance yet, dominating the 12th seed Holger Rune with a final scoreline of 6-2, 6-2, to claim his first ATP Masters 1000 title.
With a victorious run at one of the biggest regular tournaments outside the Grand Slams, Draper became the fifth British man to win an ATP Masters 1000 title, joining Tim Henman, Greg Rusedski, Andy Murray, and Cameron Norrie.
Moreover, having already made it to the top 10 for the first time in his career, the 23-year-old athlete will rise to a career-high ranking of No. 7 as a top 10 player.
With this win, Draper has now three tour titles, with previous wins at the Stuttgart ATP 250 and Vienna ATP 500 events over the past year.
With this win, he admitted: “I feel like I deserve this, in all honesty… The amount of adversity I have been through, the amount of sacrifices, the amount of time all the people around me have put into me. It’s an emotional feeling to know how much you have gone through and put in. To be here now and to say I will be seven in the world, I cannot tell you how much that means to me.”
Highlights of the match
Rune, 21, despite being the more experienced player even though he is younger, seemed to be nervous early on, while Draper came out strong, hitting the ball aggressively. He followed up his great serving by controlling the baseline with his improved forehand and looked determined to lead the match. Moreover, after jumping to a 4-0 lead, Draper easily won the first set.
Draper kept attacking with his forehand, overpowering Rune with his stronger shots. Even when Rune started to find his rhythm and put Draper under pressure in several games, Draper showed great courage, hitting powerful, accurate serves and blasting his forehand until he secured his title.
In a social media post, the athlete shared his win and said: “Indian Wells Masters 1000 🏆🤯… Feels so special to win this event and with it to be inside the Top 10 for the first time!!Although I’m in pursuit of much more, this is a huge milestone for me. I want to thank everyone for the support and give a huge thanks to my family, my team, my coach @james.trotman and all the people who have sacrificed and been with me through the ups and downs to get to this moment… @justinsherring @coachryanhjones @lta. I never forget where I came from ♥️”
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