Italian Open 2025: Jack Draper falls short in quarter-final battle to Carlos Alcaraz
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Jack Draper’s run in Rome has come to an end at the hands of world No.3 Carlos Alcaraz, after the Brit lost out in the quarter-finals of the Italian Open.
The Indian Wells champion made a promising start against the Spaniard but eventually lost out 6-4, 6-4 in an hour and 38 minutes.
Heading into this European clay swing, the Brit had won nine of his 20 career matches on the dirt but strong performances in Monte Carlo, Madrid and now Rome sees Draper position himself as a force to be reckoned with on the surface.
The British No.1 will now turn his attention to the upcoming Grand Slam at Roland Garros, where he arrives as the fifth seed.
Both Draper and Alcaraz entered their quarter-final meeting off the back of three-set battles in the fourth round, where the Brit beat Corentin Moutet and the Spaniard edged Karen Khachanov.
Despite struggling in his near the end of his two and a half hour match against the Frenchman yesterday, it was Draper who made the faster start against the reigning Roland Garros champion.
A confident start saw the Brit open up a 4-2 advantage to put himself just two games away from taking the opening set. The world No.5 even had the opportunity to gain a double break advantage but the four-time Grand Slam champion staved off the threat before going on a run of four games to snatch the set out of Draper’s grasp.
It looked as though Alcaraz was going to run away with the match as he broke the three-time ATP titleholder in his opening service game of the second, but the top-ranked Brit produced the perfect response to claw back level after a handful of lengthy exchanges.
The third seed continued to show his quality under pressure, fighting off any danger Draper was throwing his way with some sublime shotmaking, which saw him strike 24 winners to the Briton's eight across the match.
After coming through a testing service game, Alcaraz turned up the intensity, breaking Draper to love before going on to close out the match and secure his spot in a career-first Italian Open semi-final.
