Indian Wells: Jack Draper beats Joao Fonseca to reach third round of BNP Paribas Open
Jack Draper sets up third-round tie against USA's Jenson Brooksby, who beat Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime, at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells; watch tournament live on Sky Sports until March 16
Sunday 9 March 2025 00:08, UK
Jack Draper advanced to the third round of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells on Saturday as he cruised past wild card Joao Fonseca in straight sets.
Brazil's Fonseca had beaten Britain's Jacob Fearnley in the opening round but could not get beyond Draper as the 13th seed teed up a meeting with American Jenson Brooksby, who beat Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-4 6-2.
Draper came through a tight first set before coasting to a 6-4 6-0 win after converting five of eight break points to his opponent's one of seven.
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"I think it's amazing for the tour and amazing for tennis that we have a really young superstar coming, especially from Brazil where there's such a big fan base," Draper told Sky Sports.
"It seems like every tournament he's going to there are so many fans there and to be part of that and play against him to see what he's all about is really special.
"I saw it myself, he's an amazing talent, he hits the ball so hard and is only going to improve and it's just more experience at this level, he'll be a top player very soon."
The 23-year-old broke in the third game of the first set before failing to hold as the two went toe-to-toe, until Draper converted another break opportunity to leave him serving for the set.
Draper then rescued three break points before converting his second set point thanks to Fonseca's wayward return.
It was all Draper from there onwards as the British No 1 broke in the first game of the second set before making it 3-0 on Fonseca's wide backhand slice.
The only moment of adversity was self-inflicted when Draper delivered three double faults to gift Fonseca two break points, but the Brit recovered impressively to eradicate both, including an enormous serve to take out the second, before closing out his ninth straight game and the match.
"I kind of struggled a lot with my serve here last year. The conditions are different, the balls are a bit different and it's quite hard for the ball to come down, it flies quite a lot and it's something I struggled with," Draper explained.
"It's something I've been trying to get better at. I definitely served better today but there's still a lot of room for improvement so I'm glad I came through so I can go and work hard on that.
"I feel really good. I had a few problems the back end of last year and early this year so it was a tough one, because when I did play last year I got into consistency.
"I was able to train and go again, but this year I played a lot of marathon matches in Australia and Doha and my body needs to be consistently ready for that."
Alcaraz opens title defence
Carlos Alcaraz opened his pursuit of a third straight Indian Wells title with a 6-4 6-2 win over Quentin Halys, setting up a third-round matchup with Denis Shapovalov.
The 21-year-old is looking to become just the third player behind Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer to win at Indian Wells across three consecutive years.
He is meanwhile the second-youngest player to win 30 singles matches in Indian Wells and Miami, bettered only by Rafael Nadal, according to Opta Stats.
"Pretty solid match, everything has been good," said Alcaraz on-court.
"It could be better so I have to be focused in the next round. I have to play better tennis but in general the movement and serves from the baseline.
"The serves were a low percentage on the first serve so I had to increase that but in general I was happy about my performance."
Elsewhere, Taylor Fritz beat Matteo Gigante 6-3 7-5, while Alejandro Tabilo defeated Dusan Lajovic 6-3 7-5.
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