semifinals

Jack Draper’s hopes of winning Queen’s were ended by Jiri Lehecka when the British number one was beaten in a thrilling semi-final while suffering from tonsillitis.

The 23-year-old, who lost 6-4 4-6 7-5, had been feeling unwell for a few days but said he “wouldn’t have pulled out for anything” as he chased a childhood dream to reach the final on home soil.

Draper had battled back from losing the first set to take the second and then went toe-to-toe with his Czech opponent in the third.

But Lehecka got a crucial break at 5-5, prompting Draper to smash his racquet into the advertising hoardings as he knew just how damaging that was to his chances.

And so it proved as Lehecka served out the victory in west London to advance to Sunday’s final, where he will face either top seed Carlos Alcaraz or Roberto Bautista Agut.

He goes through to his fifth ATP Tour final but the wait continues for a first British singles champion since five-time winner Andy Murray’s most recent victory in 2016.

Draper will now take a few days rest before resuming his preparations for Wimbledon, which starts on 30 June.

“Today’s probably the worst I have felt,” said Draper, who was diagnosed with tonsillitis on Friday.

“Did I think about withdrawing? No, not at all. I’m in the semi-finals at Queen’s. I’d probably go on court with a broken leg. I wouldn’t have pulled out for anything.”

Draper had got off to the perfect start against Nakashima with an early break but the rest of his day was far from straightforward.

But, as he has increasingly been showing in a year that has taken him to a career-high fourth in the world, he manages to bring out his best tennis in the most difficult moments.

From the second-serve ace that warded off a break to a brave drop shot at 15-40, Draper showed he is not afraid to take risks and this confident approach is paying off here.

Having lost the second set to world number 32 Nakashima when he sent a forehand long, Draper tightened up on his errors in the third and broke serve in the seventh game with one of the stunning forehand winners that have become a hallmark of his game.

He had thought he had sealed the game on the previous point with a backhand but the automatic line call of “out” had been drowned out by the crowd’s cheers.

He had to save a break point while serving for the match at 5-4 but recovered to seal victory after two hours and 22 minutes, delivering a 14th ace during that final game.

Draper will now play only his second last-four match on home soil after reaching the semi-finals at Eastbourne in 2022.

His progress here will help his preparations for Wimbledon, which starts on 30 June, and the top-four seeding is a bonus for him going into the grass-court Grand Slam where he will be viewed as the great home hope.

“It’s a definite huge step for me,” Draper added.

“I remember last year going in ranked around 30 or 40. To be inside the top four come Wimbledon one year around, that’s massive progress.

“I live and breathe the sport, and I’m obsessed with progressing and obsessed with becoming the player that I want to become all the time and achieve the things I want to.

“It’s another step in the right direction.”

Jack Champlin, a junior pitcher for St. John Bosco, surveyed the memorable scene Tuesday afternoon. There were fans standing everywhere — down the lines, around the outfield walls, in the press box. It was the top of the seventh inning, and No. 1 Corona had two runners aboard trying to rally in the Southern Section Division 1 semifinals.

“I love it,” he said. “There’s close to 1,000 people and it’s electric. I didn’t feel any pressure, didn’t feel nervous.”

He got a strikeout and fly ball to save St. John Bosco’s stunning 2-0 victory over Corona and unbeaten pitcher Seth Hernandez, who had never lost in two years of high school baseball.

“Tough day for people who don’t normally have tough days,” said Corona coach Andy Wise, who guided the Panthers to the Division 1 title last season and saw his team’s record drop to 28-3.

The Braves will play Trinity League rival Santa Margarita in Friday’s 7 p.m. Division 1 championship game at Cal State Fullerton.

Everything St. John Bosco needed to do to pull off victory happened. Left-hander Trevor Heishman gave up one hit in 6 1/3 innings with nine strikeouts. He struck out Corona’s hottest hitter, Anthony Murphy, three times.

The Braves refused to be intimidated by the 99-mph fastball of Hernandez, who came in with just four walks and 96 strikeouts in 48 2/3 innings and an 18-0 record in high school baseball. He struck out nine, walked three and gave up a run in the second inning on consecutive singles by Champlin and Macade Maxwell. St. John Bosco scored another run in the fifth on a Hernandez balk.

“He’s just another player like us,” Champlin said of the Braves’ attitude toward Hernandez, one of the top pro prospects in the nation. “We weren’t scared. We came out with confidence we were going to win from the time we stepped on the field.

Second-year coach Andy Rojo has St. John Bosco in the Division 1 final.

(Nick Koza)

In two years as head coach, Andy Rojo has taken the Braves to the Division 3 final (last season) and now the Division 1 final on Friday.

His batters made Hernandez throw 92 pitches in five innings and hit the ball hard when they needed. “The key for us we wanted to put the ball in play,” he said.

St. John Bosco has never won a section baseball title after all the success the football and basketball teams have had. But this 26-4 team won the Trinity League championship for the first time since 2017 and has beaten Santa Margarita two of three times this season.

And they’ve got Champlin ready to be the closer again on Friday.

“I haven’t had a blown save,” he said with the confidence of a true closer.

Santa Margarita 12, Crespi 0: Ben Finnegan had three hits and four RBIs and Brennan Bauer gave up two hits in five scoreless innings to send the Eagles into the Division 1 championship game.

Mater Dei 5, Fountain Valley 4: A three-run sixth inning propelled the Monarchs to the comeback win in the Division 2 semifinals. Lawson Olmstead broke a 4-4 tie with an RBI single. Brandon Thomas picked up the save in the seventh and will pitch in the championship game.

West Ranch 8, Etiwanda 7: Ty Diaz had a walk-off single in the bottom of the eighth inning, culminating in a three-run comeback victory in the Division 2 semifinals. Etiwanda took a 7-5 lead with two runs in the top of the eighth. Diaz finished with three hits and two RBIs.

San Dimas 4, Beckman 1: The Saints advance to the Division 3 championship game. They will face Glendora, a 7-5 winner over Temecula Valley.

There was drama, clutch hitting and a little luck in Friday’s Southern Section Division 1 quarterfinal playoff game between Crespi and Mira Costa.

“Sometimes it’s better to be lucky,” Crespi coach Mike Glendenning said.

The game ended in the bottom of the ninth with a Nate Lopez pop fly falling in left field as Mira Costa’s shortstop, left fielder and center fielder tried to catch it. It scored the winning run in the Celts’ 3-2 victory.

What a game it was. Tyler Walton was cruising along with a one-hitter and a 1-0 lead in the top of the sixth inning for Crespi. With one swing, Lucas Schermer of Mira Costa sent an 89 mph fastball far over the left-field wall to give the Mustangs a 2-1 lead. Crespi fans were stunned and suddenly silent.

Just before Crespi players went to hit in the bottom of the seventh, catcher Landon Hodge gathered his teammates in the dugout and reminded them to trust each other.

“We’ve been here before and came through,” he said.

Up came Gavin Huff, one of 11 seniors set to graduate Friday night. He hit a ball to left field into the wind down the line. It carried to the foul pole, struck it, then caromed back onto the field. The umpires signaled home run to tie the game.

Mira Costa junior pitcher Garrett Jacobs was magnificent, striking out six in seven innings. Hodge finished with three hits for Crespi (24-2). Diego Velazquez threw three scoreless innings of relief. Mira Costa (28-3) had its 26-game winning streak come to an end. Crespi advanced to Tuesday’s semifinals against host Santa Margarita.

Gavin Huff of Crespi gets hug in dugout after his game-tying home run in the bottom of the seventh.

(Craig Weston)

Afterward, Crespi’s seniors were hustled into two vans and driven from Hartunian Field to the Celts’ Encino campus to shower, change and participate in graduation ceremonies at 6:30 p.m. Hodge’s uniform, hands and arms were so covered in dirt from three hours of catching, sliding and hitting that he might have needed a car wash to make it to graduation.

More drama happened at Villa Park, where Trinity League champion St. John Bosco pulled out a 4-3 win in nine innings. Jaden Jefferson had an RBI double in the top of the ninth. But the big moment was the bottom of the seventh, when Villa Park came back from a 3-1 deficit to tie the game and had the winning run on third with two outs. Jack Champlin came out of the bullpen to record a strikeout for the Braves.

Top-seeded Corona received a leadoff home run from Anthony Murphy, his 11th of the season, and relied on a one-hitter from Ethin Bingaman to get past Norco 2-0. Norco freshman pitcher Jordan Ayala impressed with his performance. It will be Corona at St. John Bosco in the semifinals on Tuesday.

Santa Margarita got a walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh from Warren Gravely IV to defeat Los Alamitos 5-4. Before that, Los Alamitos tied the game on a Sutton Deninno home run in the seventh.

Division 2

West Ranch 10, Sultana 0: Hunter Manning threw a no-hitter and struck out eight to move West Ranch into the Division 2 semifinals. It was the second no-hitter this week by West Ranch pitchers. Nolan Stoll and Mikey Murr hit home runs.

Etiwanda 8, Servite 3: Derick Kim had two hits and four RBIs and LJ Roellig and Josh Adams hit home runs to send the Eagles into the Division 2 semifinals.

Fountain Valley 5, Torrrance 2: Logan Hunt threw five scoreless innings while allowing one hit for Fountain Valley.

Mater Dei 2, Foothill 0: Brandon Thomas struck out 13 with no walks for the Monarchs, his second shutout of the Division 2 playoffs. Gavin Lauridsen struck out nine for Foothill.

City Section

University 8, Jefferson 1: Evan Han had two hits and two RBIs in the City Section Division III championship game.

Victory over Marton Fucsovics on Wednesday was Djokovic’s first win on clay since completing the career ‘Golden Slam’ at the Paris Olympics last summer.

He is now within two wins of achieving his 100th ATP Tour-level singles title – a feat only achieved by Jimmy Connors and Roger Federer in the Open era.

“Last year I played semi-finals. Hopefully this year I can go at least a step further – that’s the goal,” said Djokovic, who was presented with a birthday cake following his on-court interview.

“I think I am playing really good tennis. Today there was a lot of tension on the court.”

Avenging his loss to Arnaldi was another timely victory before his latest bid to win an outright record 25th Grand Slam title, with the French Open beginning on Sunday.

Punching the air and letting out an almighty roar in celebration, it was clear how much another victory before the year’s second slam meant to Djokovic after an inconsistent start to the year.

Immediate exits in Madrid and Monte Carlo following defeat in March’s Miami Open final had left Djokovic, in his own words, facing up to a “new reality” as he pushes to create more history in the twilight of his career.

He made a solid start against 39th-ranked Arnaldi, cruising through the first set after going an early break up, but the second set was more wayward.

Djokovic smashed his racquet after going 4-1 down and briefly appeared to feel some discomfort on the knee which required surgery last June.

However, he reset admirably after unleashing his frustration on his racquet.

He swiftly ripped the set from Arnaldi’s grasp, reeling off five games in a row to win in one hour and 40 minutes, before receiving his cake and being sung to by the crowd.

“After the racquet breaking I kind of found my optimal state and balance mentally and emotionally to be able to play my best tennis when it was most needed,” Djokovic added.