Paul ends Draper's run, reaches Queen's SFs

Tommy Paul reached his second tour-level grass-court semi-final on Friday at the cinch Championships, where he snapped Jack Draper’s seven-match winning streak.

The American played aggressively throughout the two-hour, five-minute encounter in west London, attacking the Briton’s second serve at every opportunity to earn a 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 victory. Paul hit his flat groundstrokes through the fast conditions and won 51 per cent (18/35) of points on Draper’s second delivery to improve to 2-3 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series.

"I played good tennis and I like the grass. I knew today was going to be a battle," Paul said. "It is never easy against Jack, he has been playing such good tennis, so I am really happy to get through that one."

Flying the flag 🇺🇸🔢@TommyPaul1 hits the semi-finals 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 past Draper@QueensTennis | #cinchChampionships pic.twitter.com/ljHnC1oqLy

— ATP Tour (@atptour) June 21, 2024

The home favourite Draper lifted his maiden tour-level title in Stuttgart last week and then upset World No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz in the second round at Queen’s for the biggest win of his career by PIF ATP Rankings. However, he could not battle to an eighth consecutive victory, with Paul fresher in the third set.

The fifth seed is now 25-10 on the season and will meet countryman Sebastian Korda. Paul’s previous best result on grass came in Eastbourne last year when he lost to Francisco Cerundolo in the final.

Korda, with a 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-4 result against Australian qualifier Rinky Hijikata, became the first American to reach consecutive Queen's Club semi-finals since Andy Roddick advanced that stage each year from 2003-09. He is up three places this week to No. 20 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings, setting himself up for a new career high.

Earlier, Lorenzo Musetti continued his impressive grass-court season by ending Billy Harris’ run. The Italian moved past the British wild card 6-3, 7-5 to reach his second consecutive semi-final on the surface.

Musetti, who advanced to the last four in Stuttgart last week, fired 20 winners and committed just six unforced errors according to ATP Infosys stats to triumph after one hour and 41 minutes in London.

Harris was competing in his first tour-level quarter-final, having upset Tomas Martin Etcheverry and Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard earlier this week. The 29-year-old is up 23 spots to No. 139 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings.

Musetti is chasing his third tour-level title and will next play Jordan Thompson after the Australian defeated fourth seed Taylor Fritz 6-4, 6-3.

Thompson, who did not face a break point against Fritz to improve to 1-1 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series, arrived in London on a five-match losing streak. However, the 30-year-old has looked back to his best at the ATP 500, also defeating Holger Rune and record five-time champion Andy Murray.