Draper will be joined in the last four in Eastbourne by 23-year-old lucky loser Toby Samuel.
One day after earning his first ever win on the ATP tour, Samuel, the world number 142 who was ranked outside the world’s top 1000 just 12 months ago, claimed the biggest win of his career by ousting 45th-ranked Argentine Juan Manuel Cerundolo.
While Cerundolo stunned world number one Jannik Sinner at the French Open last month, Briton Samuel made his tour-level debut as he exited in the first round at Roland Garros.
But, after securing a 6-3 6-4 victory, he is set for a maiden tour-level semi-final against another player ranked almost 100 places above him in 48th-ranked Belgian Zizou Bergs, who ended Briton Jan Choinski’s bid 6-3 6-3 on Thursday.
Should Samuel overcome Bergs, he would become only the second lucky loser to reach the Eastbourne men’s singles final – and would move to the brink of the world’s top 100.
In the women’s draw, second seed Madison Keys and third seed Jelena Ostapenko continued their title bids by reaching the semi-finals with straight-set wins.
Keys, the 2025 Australian Open champion, beat fellow American McCartney Kessler 6-3 6-1, while Latvia’s Ostapenko won 6-3 6-0 against Turkey’s Zeynep Sonmez.
