NEW YORK – Jack Draper stormed into his first Grand Slam semifinal on Wednesday with a 6-3, 7-5, 6-2 win over Alex De Minaur, becoming the first man since 2020 to reach the semifinals of the US Open without dropping a set.

The 25th seed Briton relied on his serve, which reached 206 km/h, for some of his 40 winners in the match and managed six breaks against the serve of the 10th seed de Minaur.

Draper is the first Briton to reach the semi-finals of the US Open since Andy Murray won the title in 2012.

“It’s incredible. Being out here, my first game on the biggest court in the world, is honestly a dream come true for me,” said 22-year-old Draper.

In the semifinals on Friday he will face either top seed Jannik Sinner or number 5 Daniil Medvedev.

“I’m a huge sports fan, a huge tennis fan, so I’ll definitely watch the game tonight if it’s not too late,” Draper said.

Medvedev was the last man to reach the semifinals at Flushing Meadows without dropping a set, the year before he won the title in 2021. The last man to win the title without dropping a set was Neale Fraser in 1960.

Draper’s victory over De Minaur, who appeared to be hampered by a hip injury, is his second consecutive win over an ATP top 10 player, having defeated No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz at the Queen’s Club in June. Before that, Draper had a record of 2-11 against ATP top 10 players.

Draper has been battling his own physical issues. In his debut at the 2022 US Open, he defeated No. 8 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime in the second round, but then had to abandon his next match due to a leg injury.

That seemed a distant memory on Wednesday against de Minaur, an Australian who had won all three encounters.

“I feel fitter than I’ve ever felt and I think Alex has kind of got me there in the past,” Draper said. “I also think he may have been struggling a little bit with something today which may have helped me.”

De Minaur said Draper has improved with each game and praised his work ethic.

“He has weapons and he knows how to use those weapons effectively,” De Minaur said. “And look, he hasn’t lost a set in this tournament, so he must be doing something right.”

After starting the year ranked 61st in the world, Draper is assured of his first foray into the top 20 of the ATP rankings.

ESPN Stats & Information, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.