Draper Dethrones Alcaraz At Indian Wells, Reaches First ATP Masters 1000 Final

Jack Draper
Jack Draper (photo: ATP Tour video)

INDIAN WELLS/WASHINGTON, March 16, 2025

As the BNP Paribas Open reached the semifinal stage in the California palm desert Saturday, both two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz and two-time finalist Daniil Medvedev looked to join an elite group – featuring Novak Djokovic (2014-16) and Roger Federer (2004-06, 2017-19) – as the only male players to reach three consecutive finals at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

Had both Top-10 players earned semifinal wins, it would have marked just the seventh time in the Open Era that two men have met in the finals of the same event in three consecutive years – and the second time in ATP Masters 1000 history after Monte Carlo, 2006-08.

However, Jack Draper of Great Britain and Denmark’s Holger Rune, the opponents for Spain’s Alcaraz and Medvedev of Russia, respectively, had other plans. Each pulled off an upset of the favorite. While the No. 12-seed Rune’s was predictable, the 13th-seeded Draper’s upset of the World No. 3 Alcaraz was huge – and his three-set victory will lift him into the Top 10 of the PIF ATP Rankings for the first time in his career at No. 8 next week, and could go higher if he beats the Danish star in the final.

On Sunday, in the first ATP Masters 1000 title event of the 2025 season, it will be the World No. 14 Draper and World No. 13 Rune battling for the Indian Wells crown. For Draper, it will be the first time he’s competed in an ATP Masters 1000 final.

After Draper secured match point at the conclusion of his 6-1, 0-6, 6-4 victory over the second-seeded Alcaraz, completed in an hour and 44 minutes on Stadium 1 before an electrifying crowd that applauded both competitors, the look on the 23-year-old British No. 1’s face was one that was filled full of emotion pouring out of his glands. He was happy and elated at what he had just accomplished – but he was also spent, too. Draper has been fighting his body for a long time, but now that he’s fit and healthy, he’s a force to be reckoned with on the ATP Tour, too.

During this Indian Wells fortnight, Draper has defeated Joao Fonseca, Jenson Brooksby, World No. 4 Taylor Fritz, World No. 12 Ben Shelton and Alcaraz. The first four victories were all in straight sets. Only Alcaraz has managed to win a set off Draper.

Dialed in from the beginning, Draper snapped the 16-match winning streak of Alcaraz’s and the 21-year-old Spaniard’s first loss at Indian Wells since 2022 meant there would be no chance at a three-peat. Alcaraz was unable to ride the momentum from winning the second set at love. Instead, Draper recovered and held his ground firmly despite nearly squandering a double-break lead in the final set.

The two-time ATP titlist Draper finished his semifinal with 13 winners – six of them from the forehand side – while making 23 unforced errors, compared to 26 winners and 29 unforced errors by Alcaraz. Draper converted four of five break points while surrendering four breaks of his serve. While he outpointed Alcaraz 72-67, Draper realized there was little room for error.

“It was a strange match in all honesty,” Draper admitted during his on-court interview, after improving his head-to-head with Alcaraz to 2-3. “Carlos came out a little flat, I sensed that. The first set went very quickly, then I had a chance in the first game of the second, and he came up with an ace.

“What happened to him happened to me, I got tight, I had low energy. Against the top players in the world, they can change their momentum very quickly. I just got lost out there for 25 minutes, but in the third, I was really proud of my competitiveness, my attitude and I somehow managed to get over the line.”

During his post-match news conference, Alcaraz summed up his feelings this way: “This one hurts. I don’t want to lose any match, but I think this one was even more special to me. It was difficult today, a lot of nerves in the match. 

“What could I have done better? Just to play my style and, you know, stepping on the court with less nerves. I think that was a big difference.”

Earlier, in a rematch of last year’s Indian Wells quarterfinals, Rune looked to become the first Scandinavian men’s finalist since Thomas Enqvist in 2000 and to end a seven-match losing skein in semifinals (1-9 in his last 10). He did just that with a convincing 7-5, 6-4 victory over Medvedev in an hour and 39 minutes.

The World No. 6 Medvedev, who looked to reach his first final in the last 52 weeks, aimed to end a personal four-match losing streak in semifinals that goes back to reaching the Indian Wells final last year. However, Rune had other ideas.

The 21-year-old Dane advanced to his fourth career ATP Masters 1000 final – and first since losing to Medvedev in the 2023 Rome title match – by mixing up the pace of his shots and being patient against Medvedev, who tried to lengthen many rallies with his relentless groundstrokes.

In the end, Rune overcame 28 unforced errors by hitting 20 winners – including 15 from his forehand side – and won 11 of 15 net exchanges against the 6-foot-6 Medvedev. Rune converted three of four break-points and was broken just once. He outpointed Medvedev 72-58 to record the 150th tour-level win of his career.

“It means everything, you know,” Rune said during his on-court interview after leveling his career head-to-head against Medvedev at 2-all. “The job is not over yet, but it’s amazing for sure. Playing Daniil for me is one of the toughest challenges on Tour. We know each other very well. We practice a lot together. It was super difficult. Obviously, I had the right tactics but still it was difficult to play against him because he puts in great effort and is super solid. I’m very proud of myself.

“It’s about finding the right tempo, and luckily, I’ve got good leg work, so I can reach many balls. It’s a very specific tactical plan that I made with my coach yesterday evening and this morning. It’s about finding the right pace and which shots to hit, because so many players miss too many shots against Daniil. He makes you go for more, so I’m super proud that I managed to find the right rhythm.”

Coupled with an earlier victory over World No. 9 Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, Rune has recorded multiple Top-10 wins in a tournament for the fourth time.

Rune was asked what he will take from his earlier experiences of playing in Masters 1000 finals. He replied: “Mentally, to stay like I did today. Today was a big match. I had two losses against Medvedev in a row. I remember last time I didn’t stay composed enough mentally. It wasn’t about the level or anything. … I need to stay super focused, composed, and relaxed tomorrow no matter who I’m going to play. I need to go for it. I’m looking forward to it.”

Around the Indian Wells Tennis Garden

• No. 1 seeds Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador and Mate Pavic of Croatia, who are co-World No. 1s, played in their first final of the 2025 season after reaching two semifinals – at Adelaide and Rotterdam – and won. The El Salvadoran/Croatian duo defeated singles stars Sebastian Korda of the United States (ranked 25th) and Jordan Thompson of Australia (ranked 38th), 6-3, 6-4, in an hour and 10 minutes Saturday evening.

Arevalo and Pavic (13-5 as a team this season, 60-25 overall) came into the final having won four titles together – all last year, at Hong Kong, Geneva, Roland Garros and Cincinnati. Now, their fifth title is also their second ATP Masters 1000 crown achievement and they didn’t drop a set throughout the entire tournament. Meanwhile, Korda and Thompson arrived with a 9-1 career record together, including 4-0 this season. They’ve won one title together, last year at Madrid.

Arevalo and Pavic combined to serve four aces and saved all four break points they faced. They outpointed Korda and Thompson 58-46.

“You’re always thrill to win any title,” Pavic said during an on-court interview before the trophy ceremony. “I had never won a final here. So, it’s special to me. Indian Wells is like a ‘Fifth Slam.’ So,  you want to have that one in the books.”

Arevalo added: “Playing the singles guys was challenging and extremely tough. I think it’s great for the doubles game that the singles guys play. It’s good for the fans. We’re extremely happy we were able to get through all the singles players we played this week. We played an unbelievable final today.”

• Saturday afternoon’s women’s doubles final paired a couple of unseeded teams against each other. On one side of the net was Asia Muhammad of the United States and Demi Schuurs of the Netherlands. On the other side was Tereza Mihalikova of Slovakia and Olivia Nicholls of Great Britain.

By the end of the one-hour and 43-minute final, it was Muhammad and Schuurs, who won their first WTA 1000 title in just their third WTA 1000 event as a pair. Muhammad hit an ace on match point – her team’s third of the match – to secure a 6-2, 7-6 (4) victory. They outpointed their opponents 72-56.

“I think today was tough. We obviously really wanted to win, and I think we did a really good job trying to stay positive and keep up our communication, because that’s what we have been doing really well this week,” Muhammad said during the champion’s news conference.

Schuurs added: “It’s a big win; it’s a big event. A final is a final, so I think you saw that all of us were quite nervous. The level was maybe not as great as the other matches, but at the end we won.”

En route to the title, Muhammad and Schuurs took out Olympic champions Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini of Italy as well as top seeds Katerina Siniakova of Czechia and Taylor Townsend of the United States.

Muhammad (ranked No. 10) and Schuurs (ranked No. 7) have won a combined 32 doubles titles (12 for Muhammad, including three last year, and 20 for Schuurs, including two in 2024). Mihalikova and Nicholls, who have competed together in seven WTA 1000 events, were appearing in their first WTA 1000 final as a team.

By the numbers

• Sunday’s Jack Draper–Holger Rune title match will be the first final between two players born in the 2000s above ATP 500 level.

• On Monday, Jack Draper will become the fifth British man to be ranked in the Top 10 of the PIF ATP Rankings. He joins Andy Murray (career-high No. 1 in Nov. 2016), Greg Rusedski (career-high No. 4 in Oct. 1997), Tim Henman (career-high No. 4 in July 2002), and Cameron Norrie (career-high No. 8 in Nov. 2022).

“Quotable …”

“We definitely put a lot of energy into the game plan, you know, even the night before and the day before and training and the things I have to do the day after and also on the day. So yeah, I mean, obviously everything is easier when you know the opponent.

“And now, you know, being already few years on the tour, it’s not many players that I haven’t played, so obviously know all of their games and they know mine, as well. That’s why you have to constantly improve to make it difficult for your opponent.”

– World No. 13 Holger Rune of Denmark, during his post-match news conference Thursday, on the process of watching and scouting his opponents.

 

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