British No.1 Jack Draper powers into US Open semi-finals with dominant victory over Alex De Minaur



Jack Draper of Great Britain celebrates match point against Alex de Minaur of Australia during their Men's Singles Quarterfinal match
Jack Draper is through to the US Open semi-finals (Picture: Getty)

Jack Draper stormed into the US Open semi-final with a dominant straight-sets victory over Alex De Minaur on Arthur Ashe Stadium.

The British No.1, whose previous best Grand Slam performance was a visit to the fourth round at Flushing Meadows last year, overpowered the tenth-seed Australian to claim a 6-3 7-5 6-2 win and book his spot in the final four.

In doing so, he also becomes the first male Brit to reach the US Open semi-finals since Andy Murray in 2012 when the Scot went on to claim his first Grand Slam.

Draper, who has yet to drop a set throughout the tournament so far, will now play either Jannik Sinner or Daniil Medvedev on Friday for a place in the final.

‘It’s amazing. Honestly to be out here for my first match on the biggest court in the world. It’s a dream come true for me. Thank you for the support. It means a lot,’ Draper said on court after his win.

‘I think I played a solid match. I feel the best fitness-wise I’ve been in a long time. That’s where Alex has gotten me in the past. I also think he was struggling a bit with something, which may have helped me a bit.

‘But credit to Alex. He’s an amazing player and fighter. We’re gonna have many more battles to come.’

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Jack Draper of Great Britain returns a shot against Alex de Minaur of Australia during their Men's Singles Quarterfinal match on Day Ten of the 2024 US Open
Draper is the first male Brit to reach the US Open semi-final since Andy Murray in 2012 (Picture: Getty)

Draper was handed a huge opening in this tournament following the shock elimination of Carlos Alcaraz which blew his side of the draw wide open.

But the 22-year-old has shown superb composure up until this point and demonstrated his powerful all-round game to take full command of Wednesday’s quarter-final.

De Minaur had knocked out Britain’s Dan Evans in the third round but was clearly struggling with a hip injury that he originally picked up at Wimbledon.

Draper appeared to be dealing with fitness issues, too and had a visit from his trainer to deal with a thigh issue in the second set.

However, the World No.25 brushed off those concerns, creating break-point opportunities at will on De Minaur’s serve and holding serve with authority courtesy of 11 aces throughout the match to cruise to a three-set victory in just over two hours.

The winner of his semi-final will face the winner of the other all-American semi-final between Frances Tiafoe and Taylor Fritz.

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