Draper stuns defending champion Alcaraz at Queen's Club

Jack Draper earned the biggest win of his career Thursday at the cinch Championships, where he stunned top seed and defending champion Carlos Alcaraz 7-6(3), 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals.

Both men entered the match on winning streaks. Alcaraz had won eight consecutive matches thanks to his victory at Roland Garros, but Draper snapped that streak by claiming his seventh straight win after earning his first ATP Tour title last week in Stuttgart.

“It was a really tough match," Draper said in his on-court interview. "I knew coming out here Carlos is defending champion here, obviously won Wimbledon last year. [He is an] incredible talent and so amazing for the sport. So I had to come out and play really well and luckily I did today, so thank you.”

British No.1 BRINGS it 💪@jackdraper0 with the performance of a lifetime to topple defending champion Alcaraz@QueensTennis | #cinchChampionships pic.twitter.com/MDkFSbSaQN

— ATP Tour (@atptour) June 20, 2024

The big-serving lefty thrilled his home fans with a dominant serving performance in which he did not lose a service game. The No. 31 player in the PIF ATP Rankings made good use of his wide serve in both courts to win 76 per cent of his service points according to Infosys ATP Stats and triumph in one hour and 39 minutes.

There was not much to differentiate the players in the first set, when neither man earned a break point. But Draper made a quick start to the tie-break when Alcaraz missed a forehand long, and the Briton never relinquished his advantage, closing out the set with a curling wide serve in the Ad court.

Alcaraz enjoyed his typical highlight reel moments in the match, including a point during which he guessed right on an attempted Draper putaway and laced a passing shot into the open court. But for the most part, the Spaniard was not able to dominate play as much as he usually does.

Instead it was Draper who rallied the crowd to his side, crushing a backhand return winner to break for 4-2 in the second set. That proved the lone service break of the match.

Having lost his first two tour-level meetings against reigning Wimbledon champion Alcaraz, Draper let slip his first three match points on return at 5-3. But in the next game, the lefty rallied from 0/30 to close out his third Top 10 win (3-11) and his first victory against the elite group since the 2022 US Open, where he ousted then-World No. 8 Felix Auger-Aliassime.

“There's no place I'd rather be right now [with] my family, my friends," Draper said. "The British support, you guys are amazing and I want to keep on playing here.”

By ending Alcaraz's grass-court winning streak at 13, Draper climbed to a career-high No. 28 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings. 

Draper will next play fifth seed Tommy Paul, who eliminated Alejandro Tabilo 6-3, 6-4. Draper leads Paul 3-1 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series, including a 2-1 record this year. The Briton emerged victorious in Adelaide and Acapulco, while Paul won in four sets at the Australian Open.

In the bottom half of the draw, Lorenzo Musetti continued his impressive run at the ATP 500 with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 victory against 2022 Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF champion Brandon Nakashima.

In the first round, Musetti upset second seed Alex de Minaur. The Italian has won back-to-back three-setters to reach the quarter-finals, in which he will face first-time ATP Tour quarter-finalist Billy Harris.

The British wild card eliminated in-form French wild card Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard 6-4, 7-5 in 70 minutes.

It has been a memorable week for Harris, who on Wednesday received a wild card into the Wimbledon main draw.

"It's like Christmas Day every day with the wild cards and Wimbledon news," Harris said. "Just very, very grateful and hoping to make the most of these opportunities."