Britain's Draper races past injured Baez in Wimbledon opener
Tennis - Wimbledon - All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain - July 1, 2025 Britain's Jack Draper in action during his first round match against Argentina's Sebastian Baez REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq
LONDON - Britain's Jack Draper was handed the prime-time early evening slot to get his Wimbledon campaign up and running and spared his fans any edge-of-the-seat drama to ease past Argentina's injured Sebastian Baez in quick time on Tuesday.
A dominant Draper was leading 6-2 6-2 2-1 on a boiling Court One when Baez, who hurt his knee earlier in the contest when slipping on the baseline, decided enough was enough.
Home fans without court tickets had parked themselves on the sun-baked hill well ahead of world number four Draper's entrance, and it was all over in a flash.
Not that Draper, the highest British seed at Wimbledon since Andy Murray returned as defending champion in 2017, will care a jot that it will not go down as a Wimbledon classic.
He has been saddled with trying to fill the void left by the retirement of twice champion Murray, and preserving energy will be vital if Draper is to go deep in a tournament in which the spotlight will burn like no other.
Baez, ranked 38th in the world, looked like a tough opponent for the left-handed Draper. In reality it was a mismatch.
Draper's serving power and venomous forehand were too much for a player more suited to clay and the writing was on the wall for Baez when he dropped his opening service game.
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The first set lasted only 25 minutes and towards the end of it the lightweight Baez slipped awkwardly when trying to change direction and early in the second required a lengthy check over from a doctor.
Had it been a boxing match the towel might have been thrown in by then as Draper was handing out some serious punishment.
Admirably Baez opted to carry on but the outcome was never in doubt and after he lost serve at the start of the third set he walked to the net and offered his hand.
Draper faces a much sterner test in round two with big-serving former runner-up Marin Cilic standing in his way. REUTERS
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