Jack Draper said he is not surprised by his form on clay after thrashing Tommy Paul to reach the Madrid Open quarter-finals.
The British No 1 is through to the quarter-finals of an ATP 1000 tournament on clay for the first time, and his 6-2 6-2 win over the 11th seed Paul was his best result on the surface in his career.
Draper had lost his previous match against Paul at Queen’s last year but the American did not have a look at a single break point as the 23-year-old put together a dominant performance.
Draper is the fifth seed in Madrid but is the highest seed remaining in the draw after Carlos Alcaraz withdrew due to injury and Alexander Zverev, Novak Djokovic and Taylor Fritz were knocked before the quarter-finals.
Draper could have played Djokovic in the quarter-finals but will instead meet his conqueror, Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi, for a place in the final four on Thursday.
"I just think I know that it's just been a matter of time until I do something good on the clay," Draper told Sky Sports.
"When I practise back home on it, and when I was younger, I always felt good on the surface.
"It's a bit of a different level now, obviously. It feels good to try and keep on proving to myself and everyone else that I'm a good player on this surface and that I'm dangerous.
“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.
“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 won the biggest title of his career to date at Indian Wells earlier this season and will enter the world’s top 5 ahead of the French Open, potentially replacing Djokovic, should be progress further in Madrid.
