INDIAN WELLS, California: Britain’s Jack Draper roared past Denmark’s Holger Rune 6-2, 6-2 on Sunday to win his first ATP Masters 1000 title at Indian Wells.

The 14th-ranked Briton, who toppled two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz in the semifinals, didn’t face a break point as he subdued the 13th ranked Dane in just 69 minutes.

He’ll make his top 10 debut on Monday at seventh in the world.

“It’s incredible,” said Draper, a US Open semifinalist last year whose preparations for 2025 were hindered by a flareup of hip tendinitis.

“I’m just so grateful and happy to be out here, to be able to play, my body feeling healthy, to feel great in my mind.

“All the work I’ve done over the last few years, it feels like it’s all coming together on the big stage and I can’t put that into words,” added the 23-year-old, who also missed significant time with a shoulder injury in 2023.

Draper was rock-solid in his first Masters 1000 final, racing to a 4-0 lead as Rune made a nervous start.

Draper dropped just four points on serve in the opening set as Rune, who burst on the scene with a precocious Paris Masters triumph in 2022, had 10 of his 19 unforced errors in the set.

The Dane had managed to hold serve twice before Draper pocketed the set, giving himself set point with an ace before Rune thumped a backhand into the net.

Draper broke Rune to open the second set, and even though the Dane got a few more looks at Draper’s second serve he couldn’t take advantage.

Draper seized a second break for a 5-2 lead and after sending a forehand long on his first match point he had the win when Rune went long with a backhand.

Draper’s run to a third career title included victories not only over Alcaraz but also over 2022 Indian Wells winner Taylor Fritz and big-hitting home hope Ben Shelton.

“I feel like I deserve it, in all honesty,” Draper said. “It’s an emotional feeling to know how much you’ve gone through and put in and to be here now to say that I’m going to be No. 7 sin the world tomorrow, I can’t tell you how much that means to me.”

INDIAN WELLS, United States: Russian 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva toppled world number one Aryna Sabalenka 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 on Sunday to capture her second WTA 1000 title at Indian Wells.
Andreeva, who last month become the youngest ever player to win an elite 1000 level crown with her triumph in Dubai, ended a frustrating run against the Belarusian to ensure she will rise to a career-high sixth in the world on Monday.
Andreeva shook off her first set woes and broke Sabalenka three times in the third pushing her 2025 record to 19-3 — the most wins of any woman on the WTA tour.
“I would like to thank myself for fighting to the end,” Andreeva said. “I was running like a rabbit today because Aryna she was sending bullets and it was really hard to keep up.”
In a match of swinging shifts of momentum, Andreeva was in full control by the end, giving herself a match point on Sabalenka’s serve with a defensive lob that forced a miss from the number one and clinching victory with a forehand winner.
“The match point I just really tried to just put the return in, it doesn’t matter how,” she told Tennis Channel. “Then I just saw the ball and I decided I might just go for it.
“And I did,” added Andreeva, who sank to her knees in celebration after her winner landed.
Andreeva claimed her first hard court victory over Sabalenka, who had beaten her twice already this year at Brisbane and the Australian Open.
Sabalenka had powered into the final without dropping a set but it was another disappointment for the Belarusian, who was stunned by Madison Keys in the final at Melbourne to see her bid for a third successive Australian Open title denied.
Unlike in Melbourne where she played “like a joke,” Sabalenka said, this time she let her emotions get the best of her.
“Honestly, was me against me,” she said. “I made a lot of unforced errors on important points, and I just let her play a little bit better ... I was just too pissed with myself, because I think it shouldn’t be the way I finished and I was just pissed with myself.
“I should have just thrown that aggression on that side instead of being too hard on myself.”
Andreeva had Sabalenka under pressure early, and the youngster’s frustration was evident as she was unable to convert four break points in the third game.
Sabalenka took full advantage, breaking the Russian to love for a 3-1 lead and keeping her foot firmly on the accelerator from there.
Sabalenka backed up her power from the baseline with some confident forays to the net, breaking Andreeva to take the opening set in 37 minutes.
“The anger was just boiling inside of me, because I had a lot of opportunities I didn’t convert,” said Andreeva, who wasted another three break points to open the second set.
She finally gained a foothold with a break for 2-1 — pouncing on a Sabalenka second serve to end a run of 18 missed break point chances against the Belarusian this year.
“I was so desperate to win at least one game on her serve ... every time she served I just tried to win one more game and then one more game,” Andreeva said. “Somehow I kind of crawled and came back and we got into the third set like this.”
Andreeva saved a pair of break points to push her lead to 4-2, her winners tally climbing with her confidence.
After missing one chance to take the set on Sabalenka’s serve, Andreeva sealed the set with her first love service game, complete with a pair of aces to close it.
The Russian maintained her momentum as she broke Sabalenka to love to open the third.
Sabalenka promptly broke back, but that proved just a speedbump as Andreeva broke again for 2-1 and didn’t face another break point.