INDIAN WELLS/WASHINGTON, March 17, 2025 (by Michael Dickens)
Briton Jack Draper, poised and determined – and with a firm upper lip – rose to the occasion against Holger Rune in the title match of the BNP Paribas Open Sunday afternoon. At the completion of their 69-minute final, dominated by the 23-year-old British lefty, it was the World No. 14 Draper who lifted his first ATP Masters 1000 trophy after defeating World No. 13 Rune, 6-2, 6-2, on Stadium 1 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.
From first ball to last ball in the California palm desert, Draper gave a brilliant performance. He continued his heroic run to his third career ATP Tour title – and first of the 2025 season. Less than 24 hours after dethroning two-time defending champion and current World No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz of Spain in a three-set thriller, Draper faced-off against Rune, whom he dictated with pin-point serving and an attacking ground-stroke game from both wings.
Draper jumped out to a double-break 4-0 lead in the first set and there was no stopping him. Certainly, Rune didn’t have the answers. After securing the opening set, Draper continued to pressure Rune and kept him on his back foot with an early break lead in the second. He put away the 21-year-old Danish star on his second match-point opportunity.
A rising star @jackdraper0 | #TennisParadise pic.twitter.com/zhoZFG8CX9
— BNP Paribas Open (@BNPPARIBASOPEN) March 16, 2025
By the conclusion, Draper had struck 21 winners – including 10 aces – and won 92 percent of his first-serve points. He converted four of seven break-point opportunities and faced no break points from Rune on his serve. While Draper made 16 unforced errors, he pressured Rune into committing 20 unforced errors and surrendered just seven winners. Draper outpointed his opponent 59-39.
“It’s incredible. I wasn’t expecting this,” Draper during a brief on-court interview before lifting his first ATP Masters 1000 champion’s trophy. “I’ve put in a lot of work over time and I’m just so grateful and so happy to be out here to be able to play, my body being healthy, to feel great in my mind. All the work I’ve done over the last few years feels like it’s coming together on the big stage and I can’t put that into words.”
En route to his first ATP Masters 1000 title, Draper strung together a list of impressive wins: Joao Fonseca, Jenson Brooksby, World No. 4 Taylor Fritz, World No. 12 Ben Shelton, Alcaraz and Rune. All but the Alcaraz victory were straight-set triumphs.
Draper’s Dream @jackdraper0 wins the biggest title of his career!#TennisParadise pic.twitter.com/hcPUz0USAv
— BNP Paribas Open (@BNPPARIBASOPEN) March 16, 2025
Draper will make his debut in the ATP Top 10 at No. 7 Monday, an improvement of seven places in the PIF ATP Rankings, while Rune will move up to No. 12.
“You know, I think today was very clear that I didn’t play well enough,” Rune said during his post-match news conference. “Yeah, that’s it. Some things to work on next days before Miami. That’s always a good feeling to feel like you can do stuff better and still I reached the finals.
“So, still a good week. Obviously, disappointed today, but yeah, that’s how it is. …
“Jack played an amazing tournament, and he deserved to win today. You know, he was serving amazing, for sure. But I think I could have done my part better. Like the opportunities I had to play aggressive just weren’t good enough.”
Meanwhile, Draper heads to Miami for the ATP Masters 1000 Miami Open with his head held high and a new career-best ranking. “I feel like I deserve it, in all honestly,” he said. “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 be No. 7 in the world tomorrow, I can’t tell you how much that means to me.”
Well deserved, Jack #TennisParadise pic.twitter.com/KtmcghZlec
— BNP Paribas Open (@BNPPARIBASOPEN) March 16, 2025
Around the Indian Wells Tennis Garden
By reaching Saturday evening’s men’s doubles final, Croatia’s Mate Pavic became just the sixth player to reach the doubles final at all nine ATP Masters 1000 events. Pavic and his co-World No. 1 partner, Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador, defeated singles stars Sebastian Korda of the United States (ranked 25th) and Jordan Thompson of Australia (ranked 38th), 6-3, 6-4, in 70 minutes to win this year’s BNP Paribas Open title.
It was the 40th career title and seventh at the ATP Masters 1000 level for the 31-year-old lefty Pavic. Meanwhile, Arevalo, 34, the first Central American champion in Indian Wells tournament history, won his 14th career title and third at the ATP Masters 1000 level.
Last team standing @CheloArevaloATP & Mate Pavic | #TennisParadise pic.twitter.com/j828Syw0LG
— BNP Paribas Open (@BNPPARIBASOPEN) March 16, 2025
“It’s a very special one, as it was the last Masters final I reached,” Pavic said during an on-court interview prior to the trophy ceremony. “You’re always thrilled to win any title, but especially here in Indian Wells, the so-called fifth Slam.”
Arevalo added: “Playing the singles guys is always very challenging and it’s great for the doubles game that the singles guys play, making it good for the crowd. We are just extremely happy that we are able to get through all the singles guys and to play great this week.”
Pavic and Arevalo defeated three other teams of singles players ranked in the Top 50 en route to the Indian Wells title, including: Sebastian Baez and Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina; Jack Draper of Great Britain and Tomas Machac of Czechia; and Matteo Berrettini and Lorenzo Sonego of Italy.
By the numbers
• Of players born since 2000, Holger Rune has accumulated the fourth-most wins (150). He trails Jannik Sinner (270), Felix Auger-Aliassime (231) and Carlos Alcaraz (224).
• Jack Draper is the 10th left-handed player to compete in the Indian Wells singles final. The others: Rafael Nadal (5 times), Cameron Norrie, Marcelo Rios, Greg Rusedski, Petr Korda, Guy Forget, Jimmy Connors (3 times), Roscoe Tanner (3 times), and Guillermo Vilas.
“Quotable …”
“Obviously, I wanted to win the third in a row, but, I mean, I can’t pretend to win every match. I am not as upset about not getting the third one in a row. I am upset about myself, about the way that I approached the match, the way that I felt during the whole day, that I couldn’t calm down myself.
“That’s, for me, the most disappointed thing that I’m feeling right now, because, I mean, is probably one of the worst sets that I have played in my whole career, the first set.”
– World No. 3 and two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz of Spain, during his post-match news conference after losing his semifinal match to World No. 14 Jack Draper of Great Britain, 6-1, 0-6, 6-4.
