Draper’s injury troubles began at Wimbledon last year, when he was having the best performances of his career after reaching the 2024 US Open semi-finals and rising to a career-best fourth in the world rankings.
He further said, “I have spent a lot of time out of the court due to injury, last year I was performing brilliantly.
“My body stopped me in my tracks. I wasn’t able to play and the last year has been really tough.”
But Draper continued their strong start under new coach Sir Andy Murray with another confident performance on the south coast on Wednesday.
The left-hander made a bright start and broke serve early, but he squandered a set point at 5-4 and 23-year-old Pinnington Jones broke back thanks to a lucky net-cord winner.
But Draper quickly restored his lead and his serve, which looked impressive on his return, saw him through to the opener with back-to-back aces.
The former British number one maintained the momentum in the second set and, again after breaking early, did not face a break point before breaking through and finding a warm embrace with Pinnington Jones at the net.
Draper said, “Jack’s a good friend, so it’s hard to play against a good friend. He’s still young, he’s just out of college and he’s working his way up the rankings.”
“I believe he’s going to be a top, top player and I think he showed that today.”
Draper was joined in the last eight by fellow Britons Jan Choinski and Toby Samuel.
Choinski defeated compatriot Felix Gil 6-4 6-7 (4-7) 6-2 to reach the ATP Tour quarter-finals for the first time, while lucky loser Samuel secured his first tour-level win with a 6-1 7-6 (9-7) victory over Argentina’s Thiago Agustin Tirante.
Gill, also a lucky loser, was a late replacement for defending men’s champion Taylor Fritz, who had withdrawn to give himself “the best chance to be 100%” for Wimbledon after injury issues.
In the women’s draw, American second seed Madison Keys beat Spain’s Jessica Bauzas Maneiro 6-0, 6-1, while Latvian third seed Jelena Ostapenko beat Hungary’s Panna Udvardy 3-6, 6-1, 6-2.
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