Jack Draper scored a major upset over the Queen's Club defending champion and No. 1 seed, Carlos Alcaraz, in straight sets for the biggest win of his career. The young Brit is coming off his first ATP Tour-level title in Stuttgart and seems to be carrying that momentum to kick off his Queens Club campaign.
Draper had his work cut out for him, with Alcaraz on a 13-match winning streak on grass. The Spaniard was also unbeaten in their 0-2 head-to-head, losing their first two encounters in Basel (2022) and Indian Wells (2023).
The match started out with the two men holding serves, neither facing a break point for the first 12 games. Draper had a dominant start to the tiebreak, quickly taking the lead at 6-1, and closing out the set at 7-3 in the tiebreak.
In the second set, Draper converted the first break point of the match to go up a break at 4-2. From there, he managed to save a break point of his own, bringing the set to 5-2. Alcaraz was able to hold his serve to bring the set to 5-3, but with his lefty serve, Draper sealed the match 7-6(3) 6-3.
By snapping the Spaniard's winning streak, Draper extended his own to 7 straight wins on grass. He also became the first British man since Andy Murray to knock out a top 2 player on grass.
The 22-year-old will look to score another upset against the No. 5 seed, Tommy Paul in the quarterfinals. The American is yet to drop a set in Queens, with straight-set wins over Sebastian Baez and Alejandro Tabilo.
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