Taylor Fritz makes Jack Draper ranking assessment ahead of their Indian Wells round of 16 match

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Taylor Fritz gave Jack Draper a high form of praise ahead of their Indian Wells matchup.

The 27-year-old booked his spot in the last 16 after coming from a set down to defeat Alejandro Tabilo.

It would have been a huge shock had the Chilean defeated the American number one, given that Tabilo was on a seven-match losing streak before beating Dušan Lajović in his opening Indian Wells match.

But Fritz raised his level and completed a swift comeback by losing just four games over sets two and three, and now Great Britain’s top-ranked player will be waiting in the next round.

What did Taylor Fritz say about Jack Draper’s ranking before their Indian Wells match?

In order for Taylor Fritz to return to the Indian Wells quarter-finals, he must beat US Open semi-finalist Jack Draper.

The 23-year-old defeated Jenson Brooksby 7-5, 6-4 to reach the last 16 in the California desert for the second time in his career.

This is an intriguing match, as Fritz and Draper have played each other four times and have two wins apiece, with three of those encounters going to a third and deciding set.

This will be their first meeting on an outdoor hard court and Fritz expects a challenging match from a player he believes is better than his ranking of 14 suggests.

“Yeah it’s going to be a tough match, I think it’s a tough draw to get him in the round of 16 as a top 4 seed,” Fritz told reporters at Indian Wells.

“He’s a very good player and I think he’s probably better than his ranking is and we’ve had some tight ones.”

Taylor Fritz assesses victory over Alejandro Tabilo at Indian Wells

Fritz maintained his unbeaten on Indian Wells’ Stadium 2 court after battling past Tabilo.

He hit 43 unforced errors and 32 winners in the match, an uncharacteristic ratio for the 2024 Open runner-up.

Fritz spoke afterwards of his aim to cut down his mistakes which he succeeded in doing so, and he will need to ensure he does that against Draper in his match.

“I just tried to cut down on the mistakes,” Fritz said in his on-court interview. “I was making more random, no reason mistakes than I possibly could have thought.

“Even with me giving him a lot of free points, I still felt it was pretty close for the first set and a half. I just had to clean it up and be more solid. I just needed to be more solid.”