Jack Draper's rapid rise in men's tennis continues as he won his semi-final at the Sofia Open to make an ATP Tour final for the first time in his career; Draper is just 21 years old and is Britain's best young prospect on the men's circuit
Friday 10 November 2023 19:23, UK
Britain's Jack Draper became the youngest Brit in 14 years to reach an ATP Tour final after defeating Jan-Lennard Struff 6-3 6-4 at the Sofia Open.
At 21 years old, Draper is the youngest British player to compete in a final on the men's circuit since Andy Murray in 2009.
Less than a week on from winning an ATP Challenger Tour event in Italy, he will face Adrian Mannarino in the final on Saturday, after the Frenchman beat Pavel Kotov 6-2 7-6(2) in the other semi-final.
"Obviously I am very proud. Andy is an amazing player. I hope one day I can do what he's done in the sport but it's a long way to go and I'll keep trying," said Draper.
"I didn't serve as well today but the opponent was putting a lot of pressure on my serve. I think I've got to just try and keep the rhythm. It was tough out here with some tense moments. It was a semi-final to get into my first final so I was nervous, but I came through it well."
Draper only joined the ATP Tour in 2021 and received a wild card for Wimbledon, where he took the first set off defending champion Novak Djokovic before going on to lose in four sets.
He won his first Challenger event in 2022 and broke into the top 100 on the ATP rankings in June of that year, before earning a direct entry into Wimbledon and won his first Grand Slam match.
Later that summer, Draper beat Stefanos Tsitsipas and reached the quarter-finals of the Canadian Open, the first time he made the last eight of an ATP 1000 tournament.
He made the fourth round of the US Open after beating Felix Auger-Aliassime in straight sets and qualified for the NextGen ATP finals - an end-of-season event for the top eight highest-ranked players aged 21 or under.
Draper made a strong start to 2023 as he made the Adelaide International 2 semi-finals after getting the better of Karen Khachanov but lost to Rafael Nadal at the Australian Open.
Since then, it's been a season turmoiled by injury but he came back for the US Open and made it to the second week of the Grand Slam after victories over Radu Albot, 17th seed Hubert Hurkacz and Michael Mmoh.
The Briton kicked on from his run as Flushing Meadows with another Challenger final appearance at the Open d'Orleans to get back inside the world's top 100. He won his fifth Challenger title at the Trofeo Faip-Perrel in early November.
