Draper drums Argentine on the road to Alcaraz

Jack Draper carried his momentum from Sunday’s first career ATP title into the Queen’s Club first round as the British No. 1 crushed an Argentine outside on Tuesday to reach the second round.

Draper was just 48 hours removed from his breakthrough trophy performance in Stuttgart and a comeback finals win over Matteo Berrettini when he took to the court in London.

But less than an hour later, the 22-year-old was finished with a 6-3, 6-2 thrashing of Mariano Navone and now gets a crack at defending champion Carlos Alcaraz.

The Spaniard who won here and a Wimbledon a year ago began the London week with a 6-1, 7-5 defeat of Francisco Cerundolo.

Alcaraz, ranked second in the world. has won his last 13 grass matches; he has defeated Draper in a pair of previous meetings.

“We all know how good Alcaraz is,” Draper said after completing his victory as Navone hit a double-fault on a Draper match point.

“This will be a match to test where I’m at. I can’t wait for this match-up.”

Draper is back on grass after missing last summer through injury.

He also won his first ATP-level match here in 2021 as a wild card, defeating now No. 1 Jannik Sinner