Jack Draper enters world 100 as Andy Murray returns to top 50, Dan Evans wins

Andy Murray has re-entered the world’s top 50 but Jack Draper is proud of his 99th ranking on his return to Queen's Club.
Jack Draper of Great Britain practices prior to the cinch Championships at The Queen's Club on June 12, 2022 in London, England. (Photo by Luke Walker/Getty Images for LTA)Jack Draper of Great Britain practices prior to the cinch Championships at The Queen's Club on June 12, 2022 in London, England. (Photo by Luke Walker/Getty Images for LTA)
Jack Draper of Great Britain practices prior to the cinch Championships at The Queen's Club on June 12, 2022 in London, England. (Photo by Luke Walker/Getty Images for LTA)

The 20-year-old is back at the cinch Championships looking to build on his quarter-final appearance last summer, which proved the catalyst for a fine 12 months where the Briton has won numerous ATP Challenger titles and risen in the rankings.

Speaking ahead of facing fourth seed Taylor Fritz today, the wildcard said: "I have been working hard all my tennis career to get to the top-100. Obviously I want to go further but when you are younger people say the top-100 would be amazing. It is definitely an amazing achievement for me.”

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Draper's run to the last eight last June saw the big-serving left-hander earn a wildcard into Wimbledon where he took a set off Novak Djokovic in his first-round defeat on Centre Court.

The 2021 runner-up in in West Kensington and British number one Cameron Norrie is aiming to make the second week of a major for the first time at Wimbledon next month having been knocked out of the French Open in the third round in May.

While Andy Murray and Dan Evans have benefited from beginning their grass-court campaigns early, reaching the finals in Stuttgart and Birmingham respectively, the world number 11 starts his SW19 preparations against Grigor Dimitrov on Monday.

Evans did not drop a set en route to winning the Rothesay Open on the Challenger Tour in Nottingham – his second in three years - and will climb four places in the rankings from 35 to 31.

He takes on defending champion Matteo Berrettini in the first round at Queen’s.

Evans said in his on-court interview broadcast by BBC Sport: "It was a good match. Thommo's had a great two weeks. The quality of players here is always very high. It does make me feel very good to win. I've got a tough match next week and it's time to go down to London and prepare."

In the WTA Tour event in Nottingham, the title was taken by Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia, who defeated Alison Riske 6-4 1-6 6-3.

It was a first tour-level title for 26-year-old Haddad Maia, who knocked out top seed Maria Sakkari in the quarter-finals.

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The trophy, which is named after much-missed former British number one Elena Baltacha, was handed to Haddad Maia by last year's champion Johanna Konta.

Meanwhile top seed Daniil Medvedev was shocked at the Libema Open in Holland,when local wild card Tim Van Rijthoven completed a remarkable week to claim his first ATP Tour title.

The 25-year-old had never won a tour-level match before this week but defeated the top three seeds, following up victories over Taylor Fritz and Felix Auger-Aliassime by seeing off Medvedev, who will return to world number one on Monday, 6-4 6-1.

There was also an upset in the women's final, with seventh seed Ekaterina Alexandrova defeating top seed Aryna Sabalenka 7-5 6-0.

British doubles specialist Neal Skupski continued his superb season with Dutch partner Wesley Koolhof, the pair defeating Australian duo Matt Ebden and Max Purcell 4-6 7-5 10-6 to win their fifth title of the year.

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