By Tony Fairbairn
- Jack Draper def Carlos Alcaraz [1] 7-6(3) 6-3
- Draper v Tommy Paul [5] | H2H: Draper leads 3-1
LONDON, ENGLAND – Jack Draper earned the best win of his career with a straight sets win over defending champion Carlos Alcaraz and will now play Tommy Paul in the quarter-finals of Queen’s Club.
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Jack Draper def Carlos Alcaraz [1] 7-6(3) 6-3
Jack Draper earned the biggest win of his career after a straight sets win over defending champion Carlos Alcaraz to reach the quarter-finals of Queen’s Club. The Brit is the first player to defeat Alcaraz at Queen’s Club and the signs were there from the start of the match that he was going to cause the Spaniard problems.
In the first three return games, Draper had a 30-15 lead on Alcaraz’s serve but the top seed produced some world-class serving to remain in the match. As the set grew on, Alcaraz gained confidence and trusted his forehand more and more as he aimed to dictate play on return. However so did Draper as he started to produce 100 MPH forehand return winners to punish any short second serves from the Spaniard.
More pressure was created by Draper on serve as he continued to cruise through his service games with lethal and effective patterns of play. There was a strong retaliation from Alcaraz though as he continued to edge through his service games as the opening set would be decided on a tiebreak. A poor tiebreak was produced from the world number two as erratic unforced errors came off his racket. The Stuttgart champion didn’t mind that too much as Draper won seven of the ten points to take the opening set in just under an hour.
In the second set Draper continued to gain confidence on serve as he kept being consistently aggressive, not allowing Alcaraz time to pick his spots. Although Alcaraz started the set well, the Spaniard’s frustrations grew as the set went on as he continued to produce carless errors. The defending champion was about to pay for those errors as a sneaky approach to the net created the first break point of the match and it went to Draper.
The Brit needed no second invitation as he hammered a backhand return winner to seal the break for a 4-2 lead. As expected Alcaraz produced a strong response as the Spaniard created his first break point of the match with some smart returning. A cool and calm response from Draper though as the Brit produced a stunning half-volley to save break point before hammering more serves down for a 5-2 lead.
There was daylight between the two players which gave Draper freedom to hammer more returns which gave him three match points. An incredible reaction from Alcaraz as some smart returning saw the Spaniard save the match points, forcing Draper to serve for the match.
Despite a poor start, Draper continued to be aggressive and the Brit converted his fourth match point to claim the biggest win of his career and a place in the quarter-finals at Queen’s Club.
Jack Draper v Tommy Paul [5] H2H & Match Fundamentals
| Jack Draper v Tommy Paul [5] | H2H: Draper leads 3-1 |
| ATP Queen’s Club 2024 | London, England |
| Grass (O) | Prize Money: €61,800 |
| Third on Centre Court (15:00 BST) | BBC IPlayer |
Draper and Tommy Paul will not meet for the fourth time this season with Draper leading the head-to-head this season 2-1.
Tale of the Tape – Key Stats (2024)
| H2H: | Jack Draper (WR 31) | Tommy Paul (WR 13) |
| Tournament Previous Best | Quarter-Final (2021) | R2 (2022) |
| 1st Serve % | 57.4 | 60.3 |
| Service Games Won % | 80.6 | 81 |
| Break Points Saved % | 57.4 | 65.3 |
| 2nd Serve Return Points Won % | 51.6 | 53.7 |
| Break Points Converted % | 47 | 43.4 |
Draper will look to rush Paul’s baseline game as two of the best movers on a grass court of the current generation meet for a place in the semi-finals.
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Playing Styles and Prediction
Paul has had another good season as he has backed up his title in Dallas by reaching the semi-finals at Masters 1000 events in Indian Wells and Rome. Now the American enters arguably his best surface as he knows a string of good results over the next couple of months could see the 27 year-old crack the world’s top ten.
Draper will look to continue his incredible serving as he will use the forehand to force Paul into high-risk shot-making from the baseline. Meanwhile Paul will use his variety to neutralize Draper’s power as the American aims to play counter-attacking tennis. This will be a good physical test for the Brit but Draper should enough quality in order to win his eight consecutive match.
Prediction: Draper in three sets.
Jordan Thompson def Andy Murray [WC] 4-1 RET
As Draper prepares for the quarter-finals, Andy Murray’s potential Wimbledon farewell is in serious doubt as he was forced to retire from his match with Jordan Thompson. The five-time champion appeared to injure his back during the warm-up and never really recovered as he had a nightmare scenario in what could be his final match at Queen’s Club.
Speaking after the match Murray admitted he shouldn’t have gone out to play and detailed the injury that he suffered.
“Obviously it wasn’t great. I have been struggling with my back for a while,” Murray admitted to the ATP website.
“I had loss of power in my right leg. So loss of motor control, had no coordination. Yeah, couldn’t move. During my pre-match warmup, I was pretty uncomfortable, and then I walked up the stairs just before going on the court, I didn’t have the usual, just normal strength in my right leg. It was not a usual feeling.
“I don’t know how many of you were watching, but the first two balls I hit in the warmup, my right leg, it was so uncoordinated. I had no coordination. Right leg just was not working properly. I don’t know exactly what the problem is. I just know that this is not something — I hadn’t experienced that before.
“[I have been] dealing with the back pain today, yesterday, and for the last 10, 11 years of my career, but I have never experienced that before. So I don’t know what the procedure will be or what to expect, really.”
How to Watch/Follow ATP Queen’s Club 2024
| Live Stream | BBC Two/BBC IPlayer |
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