Jack Draper sealed a top-four seeding at Wimbledon by beating American Brandon Nakashima to reach the Queen’s Club semi-finals for the first time. The British No.1 will be the highest-seeded British man at the grasscourt Grand Slam since Andy Murray defended his title in 2017.
And he is now two wins away from emulating his idol, Murray, and claiming the title in West London. But the big left-hander was made to sweat in the sun by the world No.32 before winning 6-4 5-7 6-4 in the quarter-finals. Draper gained British revenge on the American who beat Dan Evans in the second round. And the last home player left in the singles will next meet Jiri Lehecka, who knocked out Jacob Fearnley, in Saturday’s semi-finals.
Getting to the last four at the HSBC Championships guarantees current No.6 Draper will climb back into the top four in the rankings on Monday. Wimbledon seedings are based on these rankings and Draper will now avoid the top three of Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz and Alex Zverev before the semi-finals in SW19.
Draper, who made his ATP Tour debut at Queen’s Club in 2021, had not got beyond the last eight here. He prevented a hat-trick of Americans reaching the semi-finals here – after Petr Korda in 2023 and champion Tommy Paul last year – by raising his game in the third set.
Draper took an early lead in the contest when he took his third break point in Nakashima’s second service game to lead 2-1. He then needed to save six break points, including two when he was serving for the set at 5-4. Deraper was hit by a time violation for taking more than the allowed 25 seconds on his serve between the break points before taking his third set point after 57 minutes with an ace.
The second set was equally tight with Draper saving the only break point on his serve at 2-2 until he served to stay in the set at 5-6. A big looping forehand long gave the American two set points at 15-40 and Nakashima took the second when Draper steered a backhand long. The match was all square after one hour and 33 minutes.
Draper had eight break points in the first set but none in the second. But at 3-3 in the decider, he stepped up his game and got two break points at 15-40 after Nakashima slapped a backhand long.
The British No.1 thought he had taken the first – and fist pumped in celebration – with a backhand pass before the shot was called out. But he took the second with a brilliant forehand winner down the line to lead 4-3.
Serving for the match at 5-4, Draper fell 15-40 down but saved the break points with a forehand winner on the line and then a service winner.
And he took his first match point after two hours and 22 minutes with a backhand volley winner.