There isn’t a Jannik Sinner to attempt to cease Carlos Alcaraz on the BNP Paribas Open. Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev are additionally lengthy gone.
Maybe it’s Jack Draper who has the very best probability of denying Alcaraz a 3rd consecutive title on the Indian Wells Masters, and that’s who the Spaniard will face on semifinal Saturday.
They’ve squared off 4 occasions and Alcaraz leads the head-to-head sequence 3-1, however two of their matches led to Draper retirements. That features a showdown in Indian Wells, the place Alcaraz was rolling 6-2, 2-0 within the 2023 fourth spherical when his opponent known as it quits. The Spaniard led 7-5, 6-1 at this yr’s Australian Open–additionally within the fourth spherical–when Draper couldn’t proceed. Unsurprisingly, the Brit’s lone victory got here when he had home-court benefit on the grass courtroom of Queen’s Membership final summer time and prevailed 7-6(3), 6-3.
With Draper wholesome and each guys in superior kind, Saturday figures to be probably the most entertaining chapter of their rivalry up to now. The 23-year-old lefty is 11-2 this season and has not dropped a single set within the desert whereas defeating Joao Fonseca, Jenson Brooksby, Taylor Fritz, and Ben Shelton.
