Britain’s Jack Draper reaches first major semifinal at US Open

NEW YORK — Jack Draper powered into his first Grand Slam semifinal, beating Alex De Minaur 6-3, 7-5, 6-2 on Wednesday to become the first man since 2020 to reach the final four at the US Open without dropping a set.

The No. 25 seed from Britain relied on his serve that reached 128 mph to set up some of his 40 winners in the match, and he broke the 10th-seeded de Minaur’s serve six times.

Draper is the first British man to reach the US Open semifinals since Andy Murray won the title in 2012.

“It’s amazing. To be out here, my first match on the biggest court in the world, honestly, it’s a dream come true for me,” the 22-year-old Draper said.

He will face either top-seeded Jannik Sinner or No. 5 Daniil Medvedev in Friday’s semifinals.

“I’m a big sports fan, a big tennis fan, so I’ll definitely be watching the match tonight if it doesn’t go too late,” Draper said. 

Medvedev was the last man to reach the semifinals in Flushing Meadows without dropping a set, the year before he won the 2021 title. The last man to win the title without dropping a set was Neale Fraser in 1960.

Draper’s win over De Minaur, who appeared to be hampered by a hip injury, is his second straight over an ATP top-10 player after taking out No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz at Queen’s Club in June. Prior to that, Draper had a 2-11 record against the ATP’s top 10.

Draper has dealt with his own physical struggles. He beat No. 8 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime in the second round of his US Open debut in 2022, but then he stopped playing in his next match because of a leg injury.

That seemed like a distant memory Wednesday against de Minaur, an Australian who had won all three of their matchups.

“I feel the best, fitness-wise, I’ve been in a long, long time, and I think that’s where Alex has sort of got me in the past,” Draper said. “I also think he was maybe struggling a little bit today with something, which may have helped me.”

After starting the year ranked No. 61 in the world, Draper is assured of breaking into the top 20 of the ATP rankings for the first time.

ESPN Stats & Information, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.