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British tennis player Jack Draper celebrates defeating Canada's Gabriel Diallo during their men's singles quarterfinal match of the Lexus Eastbourne Open tennis tournament at Devonshire Park. Steven Paston/PA Wire/dpa
Briton Jack Draper reached his first semi-final for a year with a dominant display against Gabriel Diallo at the Eastbourne Open on Thursday.
The 24-year-old former world number four has endured a year of injury struggles but is once again showing his ability to find strong form immediately after coming back to the tour.
Draper, in his first tournament week with new coach Andy Murray, is yet to drop a set on the English south coast and produced his best performance so far to beat tall Canadian Diallo 6-1, 6-4.
The only wobble came when he dropped serve early in the second set but he finished with statistics of 25 winners and only nine unforced errors and on Friday will play in his first semi-final since Queen’s Club last year. Wimbledon starts on Monday.
“It feels amazing,” said Draper on BBC Sport. “I love this tournament. Even though I missed Queen’s last week and maybe I wouldn’t have played here, I’m incredibly happy to be here and to get some matches under my belt is a great feeling.
“I’m really proud of my performance today, I thought it was quite a strong performance against a tough player.
“I think I returned really well and I instilled a lot of doubt in the return games. It was a better performance again today and each performance has gone that way so I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
Draper was joined in the semi-finals by lucky loser Toby Samuel, who claimed the best win of his career for the second day in a row by beating eighth seed Juan Manuel Cerundolo 6-3, 6-4.
The UK's Samuel, who had the biggest rise up the rankings of any male player last year, followed up his victory against Thiago Agustin Tirante by defeating a top-50 opponent for the first time.
“It’s been crazy,” said Samuel, who is closing in on the top 100. “I’m so grateful to be in this situation here this week. It’s just been surreal playing my first proper ATP event and making the semis is insane.”
The 23-year-old will next face Belgium’s Zizou Bergs, who ended the run of another British player, Jan Choinski, with a 6-3, 6-3 victory.
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Canadian tennis player Gabriel Diallo in action against Great Britain's Jack Draper during their men's singles quarterfinal match of the Lexus Eastbourne Open tennis tournament at Devonshire Park. Steven Paston/PA Wire/dpa
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British tennis player Jack Draper in action against Canada's Gabriel Diallo during their men's singles quarterfinal match of the Lexus Eastbourne Open tennis tournament at Devonshire Park. Steven Paston/PA Wire/dpa
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