Jack Draper’s promising career reached a new high on Thursday after his victory in the quarterfinals of the Madrid Open guaranteed his first move to the top five in the world rankings.
The 23-year-old’s rapid development was the first British player to enter the top five since Andy Murray, and he did so with Matteo Arnald’s 6-0, 6-4 thrashing, which took just an hour and 17 minutes.
Draper, who won the biggest tournament of his career with the Indian Wells in March, will jump over Novak Djokovic in the rankings when it became official on Monday.
In a more competitive two seconds, Britt took just 25 minutes to win his first set against Arnardo before holding World No. 66 on bay.
The Draper advantage was emphasized by the fact that he dropped just 10 points on serves and did not face breakpoints in the match.
“Every time I play I feel it strongly,” Draper told Sky Sports.
“To these people, I felt I was going to be someone on my hind legs, someone who defends, so the next part of my game was physically doing what I could do and bullying these people.
“I’m doing everything pretty well in all areas and I’m excited to keep going, hopefully it’ll continue to come together.
“I want to chase after them because people like Carlos Alcaraz and Giannik Sinner are not afraid.
“My forehand deals a lot of damage, so I want to keep it.
“I know I can win any match and lose a match. I’m afraid I can lose it, but that helps me compete in my way.”
Draper will face Lorenzo Musetti in the first clay court semi-final of Britt’s career.