Peter Staples/ATP Tour
Jack Draper improves to 9-2 on the 2025 season.
By ATP Staff
Jack Draper shook off a sluggish start on Monday before motoring into the fourth round at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells for the second time in his career.
The 13th seed averted what would have been his lowest-ranked Tour defeat by moving past World No. 937 Jenson Brooksby 7-5 6-4 to advance at the ATP Masters 1000. Draper trailed 1-4 in the opening set, but struck late and found his rhythm to improve to 16-0 against players outside the Top 50 in the PIF ATP Rankings since last June.
“Jenson is an unorthodox player, he makes life really difficult,” said Draper, who is at his career high of No. 12 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings. “ He doesn’t make the rhythm easy. I got off to a slow start, I missed a couple of opportunities early on. But I’m glad of the way I fought and competed. Even though it wasn’t my best tennis today, I’m really happy with the way I tried my best to stay cool.”
Following runs to the fourth round at the Australian Open, where he retired against Carlos Alcaraz, and the ATP 500 final in Doha, where he fell to Andrey Rublev, Draper is now 9-2 on the season. In the round of 16 in Indian Wells, the 23-year-old will face third seed and 2022 champion Taylor Fritz.
In stark contrast to the end of his opening clash against rising star Joao Fonseca, in which he sealed victory by winning nine consecutive games, Draper struggled to maintain his rhythm in the first set against Brooksby. A little frustration appeared to have been the spark he needed, however, with Brooksby serving at 4-2. Unaware of how to crack the defiant Sacramento-native, Draper flung his racquet on the floor, but picked it up to win the next three points, including a first break chance, to claw himself back into the set.
Draper, a two-time ATP Tour titlist, eventually found comfort on Stadium 1 and was able to use the high-bouncing courts to his advantage to take the first set. The explosive lefty used his heavy topspin forehand to punish Brooksby in the backhand corner, clocking a Conversion Score of 100 per cent during the last four games of the opener, according to TDI Insights.
While Draper's third-round match was not perfect - he hit 26 unforced errors - his imperious serving was key. The 23-year-old won 88 per cent (22/25) of points behind his first delivery in the second set, according to Infosys ATP Stats.
After defeating in-form Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime in the second round, Brooksby was aiming to become the lowest-ranked man to earn two Top 20 wins in one event since No. 1013 Darren Cahill in Indian Wells in 1994. Yet the former World No. 33, who was using his protected ranking in Indian Wells, was unable to build on his fast start as Draper improved to 3-0 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series. With his run to the third round, the former World No. 33 Brooksby is up 394 spots to No. 539 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings.
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