Britain’s Jack Draper marked his debut in the world’s top 100 with a first win over a top-20 ranked opponent when he beat Taylor Fritz at Queen’s.
Draper, 20, dominated the American fourth seed in a 6-3 6-2 win on the opening day of the Cinch Championships.
British number one Cameron Norrie lost to 2014 champion Grigor Dimitrov, who fought back from a set down.
Wildcard Liam Broady threatened an upset against former Wimbledon finalist Marin Cilic, but lost in three sets.
That meant British number four Draper, who used his powerful game to overwhelm world number 14 Fritz, was the only home winner on a day when Andy Murray pulled out of the west London tournament with an abdominal injury.
Norrie, who is ranked 11th in the world, was looking to go one better than last year’s run to the final, where he was beaten by Italy’s Matteo Berrettini.
The third seed edged a tight first set by dominating the tie-break against Bulgaria’s Dimitrov, but the former world number three fought back to win 6-7 (2-7) 6-1 6-4.
British number five Broady produced a good level against seventh seed Cilic, fighting back from a set down to force a decider.
But a delicately-poised third set was tipped in favour of the Croat when he broke for 6-5 and served out a 6-1 4-6 7-5 victory.
Two career milestones on same day leaves Draper feeling ‘proud’
Draper, who moved up to 99th in the world on Monday, missed the French Open with a minor muscle injury as he prioritised the grass-court season.
Against Fritz, Draper looked strong as he marked his return to Queen’s – where he reached the quarter-finals last year – with a confident victory.
“I’m very proud of myself, I have done a lot of work, I have known for a while my level has been good enough to compete at the highest level,” he said.
“But there is one thing saying it and one thing getting wins at this level against players like Taylor.
“So I’m really happy and it gives me a lot of confidence.”
Draper played with confidence and conviction, particularly on serve, saving all three break points and winning 91% of his first-serve points.
While he was unable to take a first match point on Fritz’s serve, Draper completed the win when he hit a second-serve ace to the jubilation of the home crowd.
Afterwards, Draper described the win in front of about 9,000 fans as “amazing”.
“At the start of my career I had not played in front of as many people as this, the nerves are still there but I’m glad the way I played,” said Draper, who plays a qualifier in either France’s Quentin Halys or Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori next.
Draper is the first Briton through to the last 16, with Dan Evans, wildcard Ryan Peniston and qualifier Paul Jubb hoping to join him when they play on Tuesday.
