British No 1 Jack Draper moved into the last 16 of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells thanks to a straight-sets victory over Jenson Brooksby.
After going 3-0 down in the opening set, Draper clawed his way back into the match in impressive style as he wrapped up a 7-5 6-4 victory over the American, who is making a comeback this year after a prolonged hiatus.
Draper will now face either Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo or American third seed Taylor Fritz.
“I felt confident, Brooksby is someone who makes life very difficult for players and I didn’t really know what to expect, he hasn’t played for a while, I haven’t seen him play,” Draper said on Sky Sports Tennis.
“It wasn’t the cleanest performance from my side. I have a lot that I can improve on and a lot of chances that I missed, but that’s tennis, you can’t play your best the whole time, and I’m glad with the way I stayed calm and kept going to get the win in the end.”
Trailing 4-2 and on the Brooksby serve, Draper threw his racket to the floor but followed his outburst by winning the next three points as he fought his way back into the match.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Draper slammed his racket down in anger when Brooksby was leading in the opening set
The victory continued another promising campaign for Draper, who reached the fourth round of the Australian Open and the final in Doha, where he was beaten by Andrey Rublev.
“I knew from the first ball what to expect, I’ve played him twice and both times it went my way,” Draper added.
“He’s a fighter and competitor and I knew he would want his revenge and I’m glad that I was able to fend him off and come through.
“I feel physically good, mentally good. We’ve seen a lot of top players go out early this week because conditions are so difficult, sometimes you just have to accept it won’t be your best tennis and a lot of that is how I’m feeling.
“I feel like I’m hitting the ball well but sometimes it’s not coming off the racket the way I want it to. I accept that and hopefully in the next round I can get things a bit better.”
Meanwhile, Jamie Murray made history by becoming the first Briton, and only the second currently active player, to play 1,000 career doubles matches.
The 39-year-old marked the occasion in style as he and partner Adam Pavlasek defeated Ariel Behar and Robert Galloway in a tie-break set.
Murray, who played his first ATP Tour doubles match alongside brother Andy in Nottingham 19 years ago, said: “It is something I’m proud of and I think it shows longevity, being able to play on the Tour for that long and still be going.”
Watch the ATP and WTA Tours, as well as the US Open, live on Sky Sports in 2025 or stream with NOW and on the Sky Sports app.
