British tennis has been left saluting its newest star after the brilliant youngster Jack Draper knocked defending champion Carlos Alcaraz out of the Queen's Club Championship.
Less than 24 hours after the crowd's biggest hero Andy Murray limped off court having had to pull out with injury against Australian Jordan Thompson, the home crowd in London cheered Britain's new big Wimbledon hope Draper to the best win of his burgeoning career on Thursday.
The big-serving 22-year-old left-hander was immaculate against the three-time grand slam winner Alcaraz, handing the world No.2 his first defeat on grass in two seasons after 13 straight victories.
Alcaraz, the newly crowned French Open champ, was also on an eight-match unbeaten run but Draper, who'd lost his previous two meetings with the 21-year-old Spaniard, never put a foot wrong as he defeated the Wimbledon and Roland Garros champ 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 without dropping serve.
He becomes the first Brit to defeat a top-two player on grass courts since Murray beat Novak Djokovic to lift the 2013 Wimbledon crown.
"To get the title last week set me free of negative emotions and a lot of the pressure I've been putting on myself," said Draper, who had won his maiden ATP crown in Stuttgart at the weekend.
"Coming to Queen's for a home tournament, being British number one, you would think would put more stress on my shoulders - but it is the opposite.
"I feel calm and relaxed because I know I'm doing the right things. I trust in my tennis and know I'm going to be tough to beat."
"Carlos is defending champion here, won Wimbledon last year and is an incredible talent and so amazing for the sport, so I had to come out and play really well -- and luckily I did," the world No.31 added.
Draper claimed his seventh win in a row and, armed with his terrific serve which gave up only one break point on Thursday, is beginning to look a real contender for Wimbledon.
Alcaraz got increasingly frustrated at not being able to crack Draper's delivery and after a couple of mistakes helped earn the Briton the first-set tiebreak, the champion got broken - the only break of the match - in the sixth game of the second set.
Draper had three match points on Alcaraz's delivery at 2-5 but when they were repelled, he made no mistake when serving it out at 5-3.
Next up in the quarter-final, he'll face US fifth seed Tommy Paul, who earlier beat Chile's Alejandro Tabilo 6-3 6-4.
There was more success for the home challenge when wildcard Billy Harris reached his first ever ATP quarter-final with his 6-4 7-5 win against France's Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, setting up a tie with Lorenzo Musetti, who, fresh from knocking out Alex de Minaur, eliminated Brandon Nakashima 6-4 4-6 6-4.
In the other side of the last-eight draw, there'll be two Australians in action on Friday with Thompson up against fourth seed Taylor Fritz and qualifier Rinky Hijikata taking on another American Sebastian Korda.
