‘Good to be home’ – Draper cruises through at Queen’s

British number one Jack Draper made comfortable progress to the last 16 at Queen’s with a 6-3 6-1 victory over American Jenson Brooksby.

The two were meeting for the second time this year, with Draper beating the 24-year-old at Indian Wells in March.

On that occasion Draper had to recover from going 4-1 down in the first set but there was no such trouble this time as he broke Brooksby’s serve in the seventh game before grabbing the double break to seal the set.

It was once again sweltering conditions in west London with the temperature at 26C when Draper and Brooksby entered the Andy Murray Arena, but the addition of a gentle breeze would have made things more palatable for the players.

But Draper, 23, still had no desire to hang around too long on court.

He broke Brooksby on his first service game and continued his momentum after a pause in play for a medical issue in the stands to get a second break and seal the win.

Draper, who wrote “Good to be home” on the television camera afterwards, will next face Australian Alexei Popyrin for a place in the quarter-finals.

Brooksby only returned to professional tennis in January after a two-year absence because of injury and suspension after missing three anti-doping tests, and the signs of rust were there in this match.

But this was also an impressive showing by Draper, who ironed out some mistakes in the first few games to put in a commanding display that suggests he can go far here.

After securing his first break, he lost just four games on his way to victory.

It was also just the result he needed on his return to competitive action after he was surprisingly beaten by Alexander Bublik in the French Open fourth round.

“It’s tricky coming on to the grass after clay, to adapt. I’m hitting the ball a bit late, not on time,” Draper said.

“The more matches and time I have on practice courts I’ll get better and better and it’s definitely a surface I really enjoy playing on and obviously a win helped as well.