Eastbourne: Jack Draper beats Ryan Peniston to reach semi-finals
- Published
Britain's Jack Draper reached his first ATP Tour semi-final with victory over compatriot Ryan Peniston at Eastbourne.
The world number 108 fought back from a break down in the second set to beat his good friend 6-3 6-3.
Draper, the last remaining Briton in the draw, will face Maxime Cressy for a place in the final.
American Cressy earlier beat top seed and British number one Cameron Norrie 7-5 7-5, while Harriet Dart fell 6-3 6-4 to Petra Kvitova.
All four Britons will compete at Wimbledon, which begins on Monday.
Peniston looked fatigued, having completed a 7-6 (10-8) 3-6 6-3 win over Spain's Pedro Martinez earlier on Thursday morning after the match was delayed due to bad light.
Despite the tiredness Peniston broke Draper in the first game of the match and led 2-1 before his compatriot hit back.
A break late in the set allowed Draper to serve the opener out, but he quickly found himself 3-1 down to the player who beat him at the Surbiton Trophy two weeks ago.
However, Peniston's serve began to falter and, after staving off three break back points, Draper was able to take the fourth and force the match back on serve.
Draper then rolled through the remainder of the match, winning 13 of the final 15 points to secure a semi-final place.
Norrie, who has never gone beyond the third round at Wimbledon, was disappointed to let the first set slip after a tight contest against Cressy.
The Briton led by a break before Cressy hit back, with his serve-and-volley technique proving effective.
Norrie served to take the set into a tie-break but a long pass brought up set point, before an unfortunate bobble off the net cord handed Cressy the opener.
World number 12 Norrie had the first break-point opportunity of the second set but it was saved by a Cressy volley and the Briton's serve began to falter.
He saved three match points in a row after going 0-40 down on serve but he was unable to stop Cressy converting the fourth.
Dart was always going to face a tough task against two-time Wimbledon champion Kvitova, despite the Czech's struggle for form this season.
The big-hitting left-hander hit eight aces to outlast Dart and reach her first semi-final of the season.
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