Indian Wells: Draper stuns Alcaraz in semis to set up clash with Rune in final
Indian Wells, Men's Semi-final: Briton Jack Draper overwhelmed Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, while Danish Holger Rune beat Russian Daniil Medvedev to reach the final on Sunday.
L-R: Holger Rune and Jack Draper will face each other in the final of Indian Wells. (Photo: Ap) Jack Draper continued his stellar run and stunned the crowd favourite Carlos Alcaraz in three sets, beating him 6-1, 0-6, 6-4 to reach the Indian Wells final on Saturday. Draped had beaten Alcaraz at the 2024 Queen’s Club Championships and the lefty relied on his lethal forehand this time to reach his first Masters 1000-level final, where he will face Danish Holger Rune.
With this semi-final win, Draper also denied the Spaniard in his bid for a rare “three-peat” in the California desert.
“It was a strange match. You know, honestly, Carlos came out, he was a bit flat, I sensed that,” Draper was heard saying after the match. “Against top players in the world, they can change their momentum very quickly so I just got lost out there for 25 minutes and then in the third, I came out, I was really proud of my competitiveness, my attitude and somehow managed to get over the line there in the end,” he added.
Alcaraz, who incidentally had not dropped a single set on his way to the semi-final, went on to allow Draper a break with a double fault in the second game as he struggled to find his rhythm. The 13th seed converted on another break with a fine forehand winner in the sixth.
But the momentum flipped entirely in the second set, where Draper put up 15 unforced errors compared to just two in the first, as Alcaraz hit his stride and neutralised the only break point he faced in the first game.
Draper vs Rune final
The Briton will face an in-form Rune, who beat the Russian Daniil Medvedev 7-5, 6-4 after losing his last seven semi-final matches.
Rune, the number 12 seed, lost to Medvedev in the quarter-finals a year ago and the two were evenly matched in a gruelling opening set in which they traded early breaks and Rune battled through a marathon six-deuce eighth game to hold his serve.
Medvedev helped him to a break point with a fluffed shot at the net in the 11th game and the 21-year-old Dane carried the momentum into the second set, breaking the former U.S. Open champion to love in the third game.
Earlier on Saturday, Mirra Andreeva beat defending champion Iga Swiatek while Aryna Sabalenka went past Madison Keys to reach the women’s singles finals.
(With inputs from Reuters)
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