Yahoo Finance Jack Draper set ups all British Queen’s clash with Cameron Norrie after beating Alexander Bublik
At the star of the week, Jack Draper had never won a match on the ATP Tour, now he has two wins in the space of just 48 hours.
Highlighting his potential, the 19-year-old Londoner backed up Monday’s win over No3 Jannik Sinner by knocking out world No39 Alexander Bublik from the Cinch Championships, again in two tiebreaks.
The result made him the youngest Briton since Andy Murray to reach an ATP quarter-final and set up an all-British encounter against Cameron Norrie.
Looking ahead to his last-eight encounter, Draper said: “I’m just glad we’re going to have one Brit on the semi. Cam’s a great player and very good person. I’m glad to share the court with him in the quarters.
“I didn’t have loads of expectations today. Beating Jannik gave me a massive boost, I didn’t start off as nervous as against Jannik.”
The teenager was unfazed by Bublik’s on-court antics, ranging from lengthy chats with the umpire and a series of underarm serves.
Draper deserved to take his third straight tiebreak of the tournament and should have rounded off the match 7-5 in the second set but he was broken when serving for the match, in part down to a dreadful missed overhead smash.
The setback failed to deter him and he did not concede a single point in the subsequent tiebreak for another big win in his nascent career.
Like Draper, it has been an impressive week for Norrie, who had never previously won a match here before Monday. For the British No2, his 7-5, 6-1 victory over No5 seed Aslan Karatsev was his 27th on the ATP Tour this season.
Much like Norrie, the Russian has been having the season of his life, rising from 112th in the world to 24th, winning a title in Dubai and reaching the final in Belgrade.
It was Karatsev, who appeared in the ascendancy early on, dictating points and rushing Norrie’s defensive game on his own serve.
But the Briton was unflustered despite the constant pressure, saving a first break point when serving at 2-1 down and then picking up the first break to go 3-2 clear.
It proved a bizarre opening set of broken service games before Karatsev saved his worst imaginable service game for the 11th game, after which Norrie was finally able to take the set by holding his serve.
The second set was entirely one-sided from the moment Karatsev took a tumble at the back of the court when serving at 2-1, seemingly jarring his foot into the turf. The 27-year-old was clearly in discomfort and Norrie slowly went through the motions to round off the match.
Afterwards, Norrie said: “I felt very comfortable. He started strong and I managed to hold my serve and stay with him. A huge win for me and definitely a big step up from my first match on Monday.
“It was pretty tricky midway through that second set and I managed to hold tough. He’s having a great year, he’s won a lot this year. It’s another match on the grass so it’s all invaluable stuff.”
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