Jack Draper cruises past Tommy Paul to reach Madrid Open quarter-finals

British number one Jack Draper cruised into the quarter-finals of the Madrid Open with a straight-sets win over American Tommy Paul.

Draper took full advantage of an error-strewn display from his opponent to secure a 6-2 6-2 victory in just 67 minutes and will face Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi in the last eight.

The fifth seed, who is the highest seed left in the tournament following the exits of Alexander Zverev and Taylor Fritz on Tuesday, also produced a number of superb winners and did not face a single break point.

Draper, who broke Paul’s serve twice in each set, told Sky Sports: “At this level it’s all about momentum and confidence and especially on this surface I feel like it’s just more matches, more time competing against the best players in the world and I felt really good out there.

“I knew Tommy is a great player and I had to be on him from the off so I felt good.”

Asked what was behind the improvement in his results on clay, Draper said: “Hard work, trying to be the best I can.

“Probably for players from the UK or who don’t play on the surface often, they go into it with the mindset that they’re not going to be that great on it, therefore that can prevent them from going further.

“Whereas last year I took a few early losses, this year it’s been a big goal of mine to prove that I can play really well [on clay] and I know if I want to be a top player then I have to.”

Draper laughed off a suggestion from former player Annabel Croft that some of his forehand winners were reminiscent of 14-time French Open winner Rafael Nadal, adding: “I don’t sort of compare myself to him but I’d like to think I want to have qualities like Rafa, whether that’s his attitude or his forehand.

“There’s certain things I can take from him for sure but not quite his level yet on the clay.”

In the women’s draw, world number two Iga Swiatek recovered from losing the opening set without winning a game to beat Madison Keys 0-6 6-3 6-2 and reach the semi-finals.

“Honestly, it was one of the weirdest matches I’ve ever played,” Swiatek said in her on-court interview.

“I didn’t feel like [the first set] was that bad. I felt the ball well – it just went super long. I tried to play a bit shorter and with some mistakes by Maddy, the momentum changed in the end. I’m happy that I did it.”

Swiatek will face Coco Gauff in the last four after the fourth seed beat Mirra Andreeva 7-5 6-1.

The other semi-final will see world number one Aryna Sabalenka take on Elina Svitolina after the pair enjoyed quarter-final wins over Marta Kostyuk and Moyuka Uchijima respectively.

Sabalenka saved three set points in the second-set tie-break as she beat Kostyuk 7-6 (4) 7-6 (7) in a gruelling contest which lasted more than two and a half hours and finished under the roof due to rain, while Svitolina enjoyed a much easier 6-2 6-1 victory over Uchijima.