Draper knocks off Alcaraz to reach Indian Wells final

Author: AP

Jack Draper toppled two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz 6-1, 0-6, 6-4 on Saturday to reach the BNP Paribas Open final.

The 13th-seeded Draper will face 12th-seeded Holger Rune on Sunday. Rune beat fifth-seeded Daniil Medvedev 7-6, 6-4 in the first semifinal for his 150th tour-level victory.

In the women´s final Sunday, top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka will play 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva. They won semifinal matches Friday night in chilly conditions.

Draper ended Alcaraz´s 16-match winning streak in the ATP Masters 1000 event in the California desert. The 23-year-old English left-hander – set to break into the top 10 in the world for the first time Monday – won last year in Vienna and Stuttgart for his lone tour titles. He’s 2-3 against Alcaraz. “It was a strange match in all honesty,” Draper said “Carlos came out a little flat, I sensed that. I had a chance in the first game of the second, and he came up with an ace. … What happened to him happened to me, I got tight, I had low energy.

“Against the top players in the world, they can change their momentum very quickly. I got lost out there for 25 minutes, but in the third, I was really proud of my competitiveness, my attitude and I somehow managed to get over the line.”

Alcaraz, seeded second, missed a chance to become the youngest player to win three consecutive singles titles at any ATP Tour event – and just the third to do it at Indian Wells. The 21-year-old Spanish star won in Rotterdam in February for his 17th ATP Tour title.

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