Jack Draper, 23, WINS his maiden ATP title at Indian Wells with dominant victory over Holger Rune – becoming just the fifth Brit to achieve the feat

By MATTHEW LAMBWELL

Jack Draper became just the fifth British man to win a Masters 1000 title as he crushed Holger Rune in Indian Wells.

Twenty-four hours after a seismic semi-final victory against defending champion Carlos Alcaraz, the 23-year-old from London backed it up by taking home the biggest title of his life.

The 6-2, 6-2 scoreline fully reflected Draper’s dominance. Rune was tense and hesitant; Draper calm and aggressive.

On Monday morning Draper will debut in the top 10 at No7. He joins Tim Henman, Greg Rusedski, Andy Murray and Cam Norrie as British men to win a title at Masters level and against Rune Draper served like Greg, volleyed like Tim and struck his backhand like Andy, all with the sangfroid of Cam. 

More to the point he lashed his forehand with a lethality of which none of his predecessors were capable. At times this pummelling southpaw display was reminiscent of his childhood idol Rafael Nadal.

From the stands, coach James Trotman was continually urging Draper to bring his forehand into play and he did exactly that.

Jack Draper, 23, became just the fifth British man to win a Masters 1000 title at Indian Wells 

Draper crushed Holger Rune, 6-2, 6-2, on Saturday in a brilliant display of composure 

The focus of team Draper this year was on improving the serve and on this evidence they have cracked it inside three months. Rune never got anything close to a read on it as 10 aces flew past him. Overall Draper won 92 per cent of his points behind his first serve.

Rune, still only 21, was a teenage prodigy before going off the boil last year. This was his first final since Brisbane in January 2024 and the tension of the occasion clearly got to him.

Alcaraz was a bag of nerves in the semi-final, too, and afterwards said that was partially down to ‘worrying too much about his (Draper’s) game than myself’. It was quite the acknowledgement from a four-time Grand Slam champion and shows how feared Draper is becoming by his rivals.

Alcaraz played one of the worst sets of his career in that match and Rune was pretty awful throughout – Draper has an intangible but priceless habit of making quality opponents play way below their level.

Rune was broken in the first game of each set and the frequent glances at coach Lars Christensen went from nervous to angry to resigned.

There was not much of a reaction from Draper in the moment of victory and that felt reflective of two things. First, the startling ease of this victory. Second, an acknowledgement that this title is merely the next stone on a long road towards greatness.

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Jack Draper, 23, WINS his maiden ATP title at Indian Wells with dominant victory over Holger Rune – becoming just the fifth Brit to achieve the feat

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