Eastbourne: Jack Draper reaches quarter-finals to continue injury comeback
Draper’s injury troubles began at Wimbledon last year, where he produced the best performance of his career after reaching the 2024 US Open semi-finals and rising to a career-high fourth place in the world rankings.
He added: “I spent a lot of time off the field through injury, I was on a great run last year.
“My body stopped me. I couldn’t play and last year was really tough.”
But Draper continued his strong start under new coach Sir Andy Murray with another confident performance on the south coast on Wednesday.
The left-hander started well and broke serve early, but squandered the set point to lead 5-4 and 23-year-old Pinnington Jones hit back thanks to a lucky player who won the net.
But Draper immediately regained his lead and his serve, which looked impressive on his return, helped him open with back-to-back aces.
The former England number one carried the momentum into the second set and, after again breaking early, did not face a break point before completing the feat and sharing a warm embrace with Pinnington Jones at the net.
“Jack’s a great dude, so it’s tough to play against a good dude. He’s still young, just out of college and moving up the rankings,” Draper said.
“I believe he will be a very good player and I think he showed that today.”
Draper was joined by fellow Brits Jan Choinski and Toby Samuel in the last eight.
Choinski reached his first ATP Tour quarter-final by defeating compatriot Felix Gill 6-4 6-7 (4-7) 6-2; lucky loser Samuel earned his first Tour level win by beating Argentinian Thiago Agustin Tirante 6-1 7-6 (9-7).
Gill, who was also a lucky loser, was a late replacement for defending men’s champion Taylor Fritz, who withdrew after injury problems to give him “the best chance of being 100%” for Wimbledon.
In the women’s category, American second seed Madison Keys beat Spanish Jessica Bouzas Maneiro with a score of 6-0 6-1, while Latvian third seed Jelena Ostapenko came from behind and defeated Hungarian Panna Udvardy 3-6 6-1 6-2.
