Jack Draper says he is gaining confidence in his body after extending his winning return from injury by reaching the Eastbourne Open semi-finals with another encouraging straight-set victory.
Contesting his first tournament in more than two months after he sustained a knee injury in April’s Barcelona Open, Britain’s former world number four Draper beat Canada’s Gabriel Diallo for his third straight win on the south coast this week.
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The 24-year-old maintained a high level throughout and fired in 22 winners while making just four unforced errors during the 69-minute contest.
Draper has endured a challenging period in his career, with injuries to his arm, knee and shoulder disrupting his progress over the past year.
“I feel great. It’s obviously been a difficult year with injury setbacks but I’m gaining more confidence in my body,” Draper told the crowd following his win.
“It feels amazing [to reach the semi-finals]. I love this tournament. I’m incredibly happy to be here and to get some matches under my belt is a great feeling.”
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In the 18 months preceding the injury issues which began last summer, Draper reached a Grand Slam semi-final, a high of fourth in the world rankings and won his first ATP 1000 title at Indian Wells.
But, as he begins his comeback on home soil, he does so from a position of 160th in the world.
With Wimbledon starting on Monday, he was hoping to get plenty of match practice on the grass courts this week – and he will now face French sixth seed Ugo Humbert on Friday for a place in the Eastbourne final.
Unfortunately, he will also have to contest that semi-final in the record June heatwave wearing all black.
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“It was a better performance again today and each performance has gone that way, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow,” Draper said.
“I’m not sure how good an idea it was to wear all black, and I was definitely feeling it yesterday, but it’s the only kit I’ve got with me.”
GB’s Samuel continues rapid rise
Draper will be joined in the last four in Eastbourne by 23-year-old lucky loser Toby Samuel.
One day after earning his first ever win on the ATP tour, Samuel, the world number 142 who was ranked outside the world’s top 1000 just 12 months ago, claimed the biggest win of his career by ousting 45th-ranked Argentine Juan Manuel Cerundolo.
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While Cerundolo stunned world number one Jannik Sinner at the French Open last month, Briton Samuel made his tour-level debut as he exited in the first round at Roland Garros.
But, after securing a 6-3 6-4 victory, he is set for a maiden tour-level semi-final against another player ranked almost 100 places above him in 48th-ranked Belgian Zizou Bergs, who ended Briton Jan Choinski’s bid 6-3 6-3 on Thursday.
Should Samuel overcome Bergs, he would become only the second lucky loser to reach the Eastbourne men’s singles final – and would move to the brink of the world’s top 100.
In the women’s draw, second seed Madison Keys and third seed Jelena Ostapenko continued their title bids by reaching the semi-finals with straight-set wins.
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Keys, the 2025 Australian Open champion, beat fellow American McCartney Kessler 6-3 6-1, while Latvia’s Ostapenko won 6-3 6-0 against Turkey’s Zeynep Sonmez.
