Jack Draper has claimed the biggest victory of his career with a dominant performance at the Indian Wells Open.
The 23-year-old Briton secured his first Masters 1000 title with a commanding 6-2 6-2 win over Denmark’s Holger Rune on Sunday night.
The triumph earned Draper a massive £930,000 payday for his two weeks’ work in Palm Springs.
He becomes just the fifth British man to win a Masters 1000 title, joining Andy Murray, Cameron Norrie, Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski in this elite club.
Jack Draper has claimed the biggest victory of his career with a dominant performance at the Indian Wells Open
REUTERS
The victory also propels the Sutton lefthander to a career-high world ranking of No 7.
Draper’s victory was swift and decisive, taking just 68 minutes to dispatch Rune.
The Briton fired 10 aces at his stressed-out opponent, who appeared below par throughout the contest.
Draper broke Rune’s serve twice within the first 14 minutes to race to a 4-0 lead.
Jack Draper has landed a massive £930,000 payday after beating Holger Rune at Indian Wells on Sunday night
REUTERS
He secured the first set in just 29 minutes amid breezy conditions in the Californian desert.
The dominance continued in the second set with an early break of serve.
Draper’s performance was so impressive that at one point, Rune applauded a forehand winner from his opponent.
The victory came less than 24 hours after Draper defeated Carlos Alcaraz in the semi-final.
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After his victory, Draper sank to his knees and pointed both fingers to the sky in celebration.
“It’s incredible. I wasn’t expecting this. I put in a lot of work over time,” he said.
“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…
“To be here now and to say I will be seven in the world, I cannot tell you how much that means to me.”
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Draper’s fortnight of consistent tennis has catapulted him to just 60 points behind Novak Djokovic, who sits fifth in the world rankings.
This represents the most consistent tennis of his professional career to date.
“All the work I have done over the last few years, it feels like it’s coming together on the big stage,” Draper reflected.
“I knew that Holger would come out and play some good tennis. I needed to be aggressive and play to win from the first ball. I did an amazing job of that.”
Jack Draper was far too strong for Holger Rune at Indian Wells on Thursday night
REUTERS
This victory will have enormous reverberations throughout the year for Draper.
He will now be viewed within the tennis world as a genuine Grand Slam contender.
This new status comes at a perfect time with Wimbledon less than four months away.