Jack Draper lifts his first ATP 1000 title at Indian Wells

Entering the Indian Wells final was noted as the biggest feat of his career until Jack Draper completed one last charge at the ATP 1000 tournament. The surge against Holger Rune came seamlessly as the 23-year-old British seed saw past the Danish ace 6-2, 6-2 in the final at the Californian desert. The title victory at Indian Wells is now marked as the first ATP 1000 title and the biggest win in Draper’s career so far. Moreover, the victory landed Draper in the Top 10 of the ATP rankings, another maiden achievement for the Brit.

Jack Draper overcomes Holger Rune in the Indian Wells final to win his first ATP 1000 title 

Jack Draper reached the ultimate stage of Indian Wells after fighting against the likes of Taylor Fritz and Ben Shelton in the initial draws. The testament to his impressive form, however, came in the semi-final, where he was pitted against two-time Indian Wells champion Carlos Alcaraz. With commanding victories over Grigor Dimitrov and Francisco Cerundolo, Alcaraz looked well in form to complete a historic three-peat at Indian Wells. However, the prediction faltered as Draper staged an upset in the semi-final clash. Going 2-3 in his head-to-head clashes against the Spaniard, Draper beat Alcaraz 6-1, 0-6, 6-4 to enter an ATP 1000 final for the first time in his career.

Holger Rune, meanwhile, sank Daniil Medvedev to set up the Indian Wells final against Draper. Interestingly, both times when Alcaraz lifted the Indian Wells title consecutively over the last two years, Medvedev perched himself as the runner-up. This time, the disappointment arrived early for Medvedev as Rune overcame the higher-ranked ace 7-5, 6-4 in the semi-final. However, Draper emerged as the better seed in the final, which marked the first ATP 1000 final to feature two seeds ranked outside of the Top 10 in the ATP rankings.

Jack Draper asserted his form as he kept Rune on the backfoot for almost the entirety of the match, which lasted a bit over an hour. The match-up in the Indian Wells final emerged as their second meeting on the ATP Tour after Rune had defeated Draper in the quarter-final of the Cincinnati Open last season. Going 1-1 against Rune, Draper is now set to jump seven places in the ATP rankings to mark his maiden surge into the Top 10. Holger Rune, meanwhile, still remains in search of his second ATP 1000 title after earning his first against Novak Djokovic at the 2022 Paris Masters.

WEST COAST DREAMS COME ALIVE 🏆🌴@jackdraper0 conquers the California desert, defeating Rune 6-2 6-2 for his maiden ATP Masters 1000 title!@BNPPARIBASOPEN | #TennisParadise pic.twitter.com/GrfBx2cBdb

— ATP Tour (@atptour) March 16, 2025

"I feel like I deserve it, in all honesty," Draper said following his victory. "The amount of adversity I've been through, the amount of sacrifices, the amount of time that all the people around me have put into me and the hard work. It's an emotional feeling to know how much you've gone through and put in, and to be here now to say that I'm going to be No. 7 in the world tomorrow, I can't tell you how much that means to me," he added.