Indian Wells, Calif. — British Jack Draper defeated third seed Taylor Fritz in a straight set on Wednesday, leaving Ben Shelton as the only American to reach the quarterfinals at the 2025 BNP Paribas opening.
In 2022, past Indian Wells champion Fritz lost to Drapers 7-5, 6-4.
“I played a really high level game,” said Draper, an open semi-finalist in the US. “I think I have struggled here in the past with my serve, but today I thought I was doing great service.
Next is Shelton. Shelton became the youngest American to beat Brandon Nakashima to reach the final eight in the California Desert since Andy Roddick in 2004.
The 22-year-old Shelton cruised in the second set of a 7-6 (6), 6-1 victory. After a 61-minute opening set, he took a 5-0 lead in just 20 minutes on the deciding set.
Shelton, 11th seeded, has not dropped the set in five career matches with 23-year-old American Nakajima.
Second-seeded Carlos Alcaraz hasn’t dropped a set on his way to the quarter-finals. The four-time Grand Slam champions beat No. 14th seed Grigor Dimitrov 6-1, 6-1.
After Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, Alkaraz, who is aiming to become the third man to win the event three times in a row, deals with a much better condition than his opponent.
Dimitrov has shown signs of fatigue from his third three-hour match at the beginning of the week, and has barely been able to stop the No. 3 in the world.
“Today was really tough for both of us. I had to survive,” Alkaraz told the ATP Tour. “I always have to survive on these conditions no matter what. I’m so happy to be able to play a long meeting. I’m really happy because I got a good rhythm even with the conditions.”
Alkaraz did not face breakpoints in the first set as Dimitrov cut off a few winners for more than a dozen unlimited errors.
Alcaraz dropped only four of the first service points in the second set, with Dimitrov taking three breakpoint chances in the fifth game.
He will then face Argentina’s Francisco Cerundo, who led Australia’s Alex do Minauru 7-5, 6-3.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to the report.