INDIAN WELLS (United States): Britain’s Jack Draper ended Carlos Alcaraz’s bid for a rare Indian Wells ATP Masters three-peat on Saturday, stunning the two-time defending champion 6-1, 0-6, 6-4 to reach the final.
On Sunday, world number 14 Draper will take on Denmark’s Holger Rune, a 7-5, 6-4 winner over world number six Daniil Medvedev — who had been runner-up to Alcaraz each of the past two years.
“I got a little tight in the end,“ admitted Draper, who will rise inside the top 10 in the world rankings for the first time next week. “But I’m proud of how I held my nerve.”
Alcaraz had been seeking to join Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic as the only men to win three straight Indian Wells titles.
But Draper ended Alcaraz’s 16-match winning streak in the California desert, leaping out of the gate and wrapping up the first set in 23 minutes as Alcaraz failed to get to grips with the left-hander’s serve.
The second set was a mirror image of the first as Alcaraz found his range and after fending off a break point with a 137 mph ace in the opening game broke Draper three times to level the match.
Draper, who lost a set to love for the first time in his career, responded, breaking Alcaraz for a 2-1 lead in the third in a game that featured a lengthy video review that showed the Briton had indeed managed to scoop back a winner off an Alcaraz drop shot before a double-bounce.
He boke again for a 5-2 lead, finally firing a cross-court winner past the Spaniard to end a game that went to deuce five times, Alcaraz failing to put away four game points.
Draper’s nerves showed as he served for the match at 5-2 and was broken, but he made no mistake on his second chance as he reached the first ATP Masters 1000 final of his career.
