match report
Draper ‘proud of his level’ after Indian Wells return
British southpaw beats Bautista Agut 3-6, 6-3, 6-2
March 7, 2026
ATP Tour
Jack Draper plays at Indian Wells on Saturday.
Sam Jacott
Defending champion Jack Draper returned to the BNP Paribas Open with a victory on Saturday, defeating former world No. 9 Roberto Bautista Agut 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 to reach the third round.
The British southpaw captured the biggest title of his career last year in the California desert, defeating Carlos Alcaraz in the semifinals and Holger Ruhn in the title match. The 24-year-old has since spent significant time on the sidelines with a left arm injury.
Draper returned to Dubai last week to compete on the ATP Tour, having been injured since the U.S. Open in August. The PIF ATP Ranking No. 14 won a match at the ATP 500 event and looked quite comfortable at Arena 2 in Indian Wells.
“It’s been difficult,” Draper said when asked about returning from injury. “Although from the moment I came here last week I felt the love and the special feeling of being back here, at the same time I hadn’t played for a long time and had a serious injury, so it was mixed emotions. But I was really happy with how I performed in the second and third sets against a strong opponent in Roberto. He’s a guy who plays such good tennis on tour. I’m proud of my performance.”
Draper hit 24 forehand winners, 20 of which came in the final two sets. He was also impressive going forward, winning all nine of his points at the net. The No. 14 seed said at Wednesday’s pre-match press conference that he “If he didn’t feel like he could go all the way, he wouldn’t be in Indian Wells. “. He hopes to continue his rivalry with Francisco Cerundolo.
Draper added: “I’m really proud of being able to come back from that injury and come back and play at the level that I’m playing at.”
In other matches, No. 13 seed Kasper Ruud ended a four-game losing streak at the ATP Masters 1000 event, defeating Alexander Shevchenko 6-1, 7-6(4). The Norwegian has not won at this level since reaching the fourth round in Toronto last August and losing in opening games in Cincinnati, Shanghai and Paris.
Luther reached the third round of Indian Wells for the fifth time and will next face Shanghai champion Valentin Vaccero or Portugal’s Nuno Borges.
