British tennis youngster Jack Draper has triumphed in Indian Wells – literally steamrolling his Danish opponent. In the women’s competition, a 17-year-old is continuing her dream run.
British tennis youngster Jack Draper has secured the title in his first Masters final. The 23-year-old, seeded 13th in Indian Wells, California, defeated the higher-seeded Dane Holger Rune in a quick run with 6:2, 6:2. In the semi-finals of the hard court tournament, Draper had already knocked out the defending champion and world number one Carlos Alcaraz.
Less than 24 hours after this success, the Brit put in an impressive performance against Rune. The first set lasted only half an hour, with Draper only conceding five points up to a score of 4-0. In the second set, the new world number seven also got the break directly in the first return game. After just 70 minutes, Draper converted the second match point for the triumph.
“I honestly deserve this,” said Draper afterwards. ‘After everything I’ve been through, all the sacrifices and all the time that the people around me have invested in me, to now be ranked number seven in the world is an amazing feeling. I can’t even put into words how much this means to me.’
17-year-old Russian Andreyeva unstoppable
In the women’s final, 17-year-old Mirra Andreyeva defeated world number one Aryna Sabalenka 2-6, 6-4, 6-3. After the tournament in Dubai three weeks ago, this is already the second consecutive Masters title for the Russian, who had already knocked out the world number two, Iga Swiatek from Poland, in the semi-finals. The only other player to knock out both top players at the same tournament in the WTA circuit was the American Tracy Austin at an even younger age (16).
“I want to thank myself for never giving up and fighting to the end,” said the teenager after congratulating Sabalenka on a ‘great’ tournament. ”I ran like a rabbit today because Aryna chased me so hard.” Earlier, Andreyeva had already thanked tournament director Tommy Haas and announced that she would be returning to Indian Wells next year. Andreyeva is now ranked sixth in the world.
