Jack Draper booked his place in a first career grand slam quarter-final as he demolished Tomas Machac in the US Open fourth round.
Draper has always loved playing in New York, where the fast courts help his style, and he will now be dreaming big, having yet to drop a set in his opening four matches.
His form is bringing back memories of Emma Raducanu, who famously flew under the radar to win the tournament in 2021, and Draper will be hoping to emulate her in the next week.
12 sets played. 12 sets won. pic.twitter.com/W62K6vRifk
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 2, 2024
While that still remains a tough task, arguably this is his best chance yet of winning a grand slam, with Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic already out and questions still remaining over Jannik Sinner following his anti-doping scandal.
He will have to overcome much bigger hurdles than the one Czech player Machac presented as Draper swept to a 6-3 6-1 6-2 victory, underpinned by a run of 16 games out of 19.
Whatever happens next he is the first British man to reach the last eight since Andy Murray in 2016.
Draper was supported throughout by Vogue editor Anna Wintour, who sat in his box. While she might not have approved of his fuchsia pink shirt, she will have been impressed by his dominant display.
It was at 3-3 in the first set where the tide turned completely in the British number one’s favour as three unforced errors from Machac handed him the break.
Draper was not having to play out of his skin, but was solid on his serve and just had to wait for Machac to spray the ball about, or hit double faults.
The Czech continued to do both regularly, allowing Draper to get a complete stranglehold on the match, winning in straight sets in one hour 44 minutes.
He said on court: “I thought the last few times we played was a really decent battle. He was maybe a little off his best.
“I lost last year in the same round so it is nice to come back and go one better.
“I just need to keep going; I love playing here in New York, and I will just go through it again, I love playing on these big stages, I look forward to coming out again on Wednesday.”
