Preview: Brandon Nakashima vs. Jack Draper - prediction, head-to-head, tournament so far

Fresh off denying fans an all-British quarter-final, Brandon Nakashima takes on second seed Jack Draper on Friday, aiming to cause an upset at the Queen's Club Championships.

The American battled to a two-set victory over Daniel Evans to set up a fourth matchup with the second seed on the ATP Tour.

Match preview

Having come through the test of Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard's fiery serves, Nakashima faced off with Evans knowing the fans were unlikely to be in his corner on Wednesday.

A rather uneventful opening set went the American's way when he broke in the 12th game of the opener, and he played tight tennis in the second-set tie-break to avoid being taken to a decider in the last-16 contest, edging the wild card 7-5, 7-6(4).

The upshot of beating the world No. 199 in London is a maiden appearance in the last eight at the Queen’s Club on his second attempt after falling to Lorenzo Musetti in three tight sets in last year’s last 16.

While facing another home player — Britain’s No. 1 player, in fact — will be a sterner challenge, the world No. 32’s career record on grass and form in the past 12 months suggest that Friday’s contest will be competitive.

The 23-year-old is 17-13 overall on the surface since 2021 but holds an 11-5 record in the last year, having made the semis in Stuttgart and third round at Wimbledon in 2024 and two quarter-finals this season — Stuttgart last week and London this week.

Draper undoubtedly enters Friday's last eight as the favourite to win, but the world No. 6, who needed to battle hard against Alexei Popyrin, will be wary of his American opponent.

The home favourite needed to overcome losing the opening set against the Australian, recover from failing to take a pair of match points in the decider and turning around a deficit in the following shootout to notch a 3-6, 6-2, 7-6(5) victory.

Having improved to 27-7 for the season, the lefty seeks a 28th at the expense of his opponent to reach the last four at the Queen's Club for the first time.

Draper was a quarter-finalist in 2021 before falling to Cameron Norrie and returned to the last eight last year, only to suffer a two-hour loss to eventual champion Tommy Paul in three sets.

Now, the British No. 1 hopes to be third time lucky to go deep on home soil and right the perceived wrongs of falling short previously.

With prior success recorded over Nakashima on the grass, Draper will back himself for success in London for a maiden semi-final appearance against one of Jiri Lehecka, Gabriel Diallo, Jacob Fearnley or Corentin Moutet.

Tournament so far

Brandon Nakashima:

First round: vs. Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard 6-7[10] 7-6[5] 6-4

Second round: vs. Daniel Evans 7-5 7-6[4]

Jack Draper:

First round: vs. Jenson Brooksby 6-3 6-1

Second round: vs. Alexei Popyrin 3-6 6-2 7-6[5]

Head To Head

NextGen Finals (2022) - Semi-finals: Nakashima 4-3(6) 1-4 4-2 4-3(5)

Bergamo CH (2023) - Semi-finals: Draper 6-1 3-6 7-5

Stuttgart (2024) - Semi-finals: Draper 6-3 6-3

Although Draper leads their overall head-to-head 2-1, both players are tied 1-1 considering only matchups on the ATP Tour.

The American beat the left-hander at the NextGen Finals three years ago en route to the 2022 title, but the British star got retribution 12 months ago on the grass courts of Stuttgart, where he claimed a maiden crown on the men's tour.

Nakashima enters Friday's contest 0-3 against top-10 players after defeats to Daniil Medvedev and Musetti in Madrid and Rome, respectively, before last week's defeat to Stuttgart finalist Alexander Zverev.

We say: Draper to win in three sets

Draper is 18-3 against players ranked outside the top 30 in 2025, suffering just one loss in 11 to such opponents — his French Open shock defeat to Alexander Bublik — underscoring his dominance over lower-ranked players.

While Friday’s matchup is expected to go the distance, the British No. 1 is backed to eke out a tight victory in three sets over the first-time Queen's quarter-finalist.

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