Tennis, ATP – Stuttgart Open 2024: Draper wins the tournament against Berrettini

“It’s obviously a huge honour for me,” Draper told the ATP. “I want to be a top 20, top 10 player and win big titles. If there’s someone ahead of me or not, they’re obviously doing a great job too. But if I am to be British No. 1, I’m obviously incredibly proud of that and incredibly honoured to be in that position, and hopefully I can carry the flag forward.”

Draper had to navigate the challenge of facing a world-class grass-court player and he passed the test with flying colours on Sunday.

“It was a really tough match,” 40th-ranked Draper told the crowd. “I’m really happy to win my first title, it means so much to me.”

Draper fired 12 aces and saved three of four break points in the two hour and four-minute clash. After dropping the opener, he won the second-set tiebreak, then engineered a critical break for 4-3 in the final set.

The Sutton, England native won his final eight points on serve to lock up the victory.

Berrettini: This one hurts

Berrettini cracked 14 aces and won 55 of 66 first-serve points as he remained unbroken through the first two and a half sets of the match, but 22-year-old Draper kept up the hunt and finally claimed the critical break in the third set to turn the match in his favour.

“Unbelievable match. I was so close. This one is gonna hurt a little bit, but that’s tennis – I won matches like this and I lost matches like this,” Berrettini told the crowd, adding: “This is hopefully a first step for the grass season.”