Carlos Alcaraz admission will be music to Jack Draper's ears at Queen's

Jack Draper would have taken heart from the post-match interview of Carlos Alcaraz after the Spaniard won his quarter-final clash at Queen's. The top two seeds remain on a collision course for an absorbing final in London, with the British star beating Brandon Nakashima 6-4 5-7 6-4 today to set up a semi-final clash with Jiri Lehecka.

He then watched Alcaraz, playing his first tournament since his gruelling French Open win, also make the final four. The 22-year-old got past Arthur Rinderknech 7-6 6-4 despite visibly battling the searing heat. Afterwards, the five-time Grand Slam champion conceded his three matches so far were taking their toll having needed three-and-a-half hours to win in the previous round.

Asked how he was feeling, Alcaraz replied: "Could be better, honestly. I honestly thought I was going to feel much, much worse than I feel right now.

"But you know, we are tennis players, we have to do whatever we have to do to recover and be in good shape for the next day. I'm glad that today was one hour and 20 minutes. I'm happy and hopefully tomorrow I'm going to feel much better."

Alcaraz will play the unseeded Roberto Bautista Agut in his semi-final tomorrow, and his words would have been music to Draper's ears. If the two favourites go through, the home hero faces the prospect of playing his rival when he's not 100 per cent fit.

However, Alcaraz did also warn he'd physically improved over the week, and declared himself satisfied to get past Rinderknech, saying: "I'm feeling much better than the first day. That's what I'm trying to do - every day just try to feel better, moving, hitting the ball is feeling great playing on grass

"I'm really happy to play such a good level today. Today was a really tough one, it was a big challenge. He is playing great on grass but I'm really happy with the way I played today."

Just 12 days ago, Alcaraz beat Jannik Sinner in a final for the ages at Roland Garros. He fought back from two sets down and saved three championship points to beat the Italian after five hours and 29 minutes on court.