Jack Draper clinches biggest win of his career with Indian Wells success
Draper backed up his semi-final win against Carlos Alcaraz by dismantling Holger Rune in straight sets.
Jack Draper secured a maiden ATP Masters 1000 title as the British number one defeated Holger Rune in straight sets to be crowned Indian Wells champion.
The 23-year-old powered past Dane Rune 6-2 6-2 in a BNP Paribas Open final that lasted just an hour and eight minutes.
Draper, who beat Carlos Alcaraz in the last four, is set to rise to a career-high number seven in the world rankings on Monday.
He made a fast start against Rune, breaking him in the opening game, and then doing so again at his next attempt en route to taking the first set.
Draper was then a break up at the first opportunity again in set two as he surged to victory.
“It’s incredible. I wasn’t expecting this,” Draper said afterwards on Sky Sports.
“I put in a lot of work over time and I’m just so grateful and so happy to be out here, to be able to play, my body feeling healthy, to feel great in the mind.
“All the work I’ve done over the last few years feels like it’s coming together on the big stage, and I can’t put that into words.”
When asked about breaking quickly in both sets, Draper – who had beaten defending champion Alcaraz 6-1 0-6 6-4 in the semis – said: “It was important. I felt like I came out and approached the game well.
“Yesterday I had a few ups and down during the match, a bit low energy against Carlos, and I learned from that today.
“I knew Holge was going to come out and be playing some really good tennis so I needed to be aggressive and play to win from the first ball, and I did an amazing job of that and didn’t allow him to play. I just felt like I dictated the match really well.”
On his new ranking, he added: “I feel like I deserve it in all honesty, the amount of adversity I’ve been through, the amount of sacrifices, the amount of time all the people around me have put into me and the hard work.
“It’s an emotional feeling to know how much you’ve gone through and put in and to be here now, to say I’m going to seven in the world tomorrow, I can’t tell you how much that means to me.”
