Draper fights back for ‘huge’ win over Djokovic

Britain’s Jack Draper produced a superb fightback to beat Novak Djokovic and reach the Indian Wells fourth round – a result he believes could be “a real big moment” in his season.

Defending champion Draper regrouped impressively to beat 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic 4-6 6-4 7-6 (7-5) in a “real physical battle” of two hours and 35 minutes.

Djokovic, a five-time winner at Indian Wells, had beaten Draper in the only previous meeting between them at Wimbledon in 2021.

The victory is an important one for Draper as he rebuilds after a torrid eight-month spell plagued with an arm injury.

“To beat Novak is something that is mind-blowing,” Draper, who is playing only his second ATP Tour event of the season, told BBC Sport.

“I’ve watched him since I was a kid, idolising him. Unbelievable respect for the player that he is.

“I still want to play better, and feel better on the court, but I think for how long I have had off the court to come here and play three tough matches already and play that one, it’s huge for me.

“It’s something I will probably look back on in a few months and think this is a real big moment for me.”

Djokovic, runner-up to Alcaraz at January’s Australian Open, won 87% of points on his serve as he clinched the opening set.

However, Draper levelled to force a decider as the quality rose, with Djokovic winning a gruelling 26-shot rally in the opening game at 30-30 on the Serb’s serve.

The Briton broke his rival’s next service game but, serving for the match at 5-4 up, was broken back as the match went to a tie-break.

Once again, Draper regrouped impressively to advance and set up a quarter-final against former world number one Daniil Medvedev.

“It was a real physical battle, there were definitely a lot of ups and downs in the match,” Draper, 24, said.

“To come through that match is something I will never forget.”

Djokovic, playing his first tournament reaching the final of the Australian Open in January, believes he paid the price for the 26-shot rally.

“It cost me a break after,” he said. “It was great winning that point in that game, but I just ran completely out of the gas.

“I got the crowd backing me and I felt the energy. It was, like, ‘maybe I’m going take this one’.

“It was so close, so close. I mean, just unfortunate few mistakes from my side.”

Draper lost an exhilarating 26-shot rally, was broken back when serving for the match and won one less point than Djokovic – but still came out on top.

The rally – full of extraordinary drop shots, lobs and smashes – will take some beating this year.

Djokovic won it to hold serve in the opening game of the deciding set, but the effort contributed to him dropping serve next time and Draper appeared in control – until he played a very poor game when serving for the match.

Both players were virtually bent double with exhaustion before the match point, which sealed Draper’s victory.

For the first time since his comeback to the tour, he will now have to play matches on back to back days.

Norrie is yet to drop a set at this year’s tournament and backed up his win over sixth seed Alex de Minaur in the previous round with an impressive 6-4 6-2 victory over world number 117 Rinky Hijikata in one hour and 16 minutes.

Norrie has a good record at the hard-court event in California, having won the title in 2021.

He faces a formidable challenge against Alcaraz, who is yet to lose a match this year and breezed past Casper Ruud 6-1 7-6 (7-2).

Norrie told BBC Sport he has gained confidence from his results at Indian Wells so far – and also from an “unreal” pre-tournament practice session with world number two Jannik Sinner.

“We had the centre court and it was meant to be two hours, but we were both having an unreal practice and both enjoying it,” Norrie said.

“He’s like, ‘No, come on man, let’s keep going’. I had something to do for the tournament and he had a photoshoot to do, and he was just like, ‘Cancel that’.

“I had to text my agent and postpone my thing and we kept going. I think we played about three hours and 20 minutes.