Lucky No. 13 seed Jack Draper of Great Britain dominated No. 12 seed Holger Rune of Denmark 6-2, 6-2 in just 69 minutes to win the BNP Paribas Open on Sunday at Indian Wells, Calif.
The 23-yaer-old notched his first ATP Masters 1000 title with the victory.
“It’s incredible. I wasn’t expecting this,” Draper said. “I’ve 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 being healthy, to feel great in my 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.”
Draper never faced break point and smashed 10 aces without a double fault. He raced out to a 4-0 lead in the first set and tied things up at the end of the match by winning the final three games.
Draper’s path to the championship match featured wins over Americans Taylor Fritz and Ben Shelton, the Nos. 3 and 11 seeds, and culminated in a three-set win over second-seeded Carlos Alcaraz of Spain in the semifinals.
“I felt like I came out, I approached the game well. (Saturday) I had a few ups and downs during the match, a bit of low energy against Carlos and I learned from that today,” Draper said.
“I knew that Holger 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. I did an amazing job of that and I didn’t allow him to play, and I just felt like I dictated the match really well.”
Draper previously lost to Rune in the quarterfinals at the ATP 1000-level event in Cincinnati last summer.
Rune, 21, was seeking his second 1000-level title after winning the Rolex Paris Masters back in 2022.
He saved 3 of 6 break points and had just one ace with a pair of double faults on Sunday. He was nearly powerless against Draper’s first serve — Draper won 23 of 25 points on his first service (92 percent).
“Tough day for me, but I have to start with congratulating Jack,” Rune said. “You’ve been showing some incredible tennis and, for sure, you deserved to win today.”
–Field Level Media
