Jack Draper's run through Indian Wells concludes with his first ATP Masters 1000 title

This year’s BNP Paribas Open offered a look into the future, and not just on the women’s side.

Following 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva’s win over world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the WTA final, 23-year-old Jack Draper collected the biggest title of his young career. It’s the Brit’s first 1000-level tournament win, and if he plays anything like he did these past two weeks at Indian Wells, it will not be his last.

Seeded 13^th, Draper was given what seemed like one of the more difficult second-round assignments last week: the surging Joao Fonseca. Draper won 6-4, 6-0. Taylor Fritz in the fourth round? A 7-5, 6-4 dispatching. OK, how about Ben Shelton in the quarters? 6-4, 7-5 to Draper.

Now, surely, Carlos Alcaraz would prove more of a challenge in the semis—and he did, with the Spaniard bageling Draper in the second set.

Draper dropped just five games between the other two sets.

When 12^th seed Holger Rune stood across the net from Drapers Sunday afternoon, they may have been just one ranking position apart, but the chasm felt much larger—in the lower-ranked player’s direction. The match played out that way. After 12 games, Draper had won 90 percent of his first-serve points, hadn’t offered Rune a single break point and, more to the point, utterly owned the center court and most of the rallies played on it.

As he did against his prior opponents—a murderer’s row at a hard-court event—Draper’s forehand was the point-terminating, game-breaking shot. Whether it was with a serve-plus-one or in return games, Draper owned the only stroke that really mattered. Well, beyond his also-lethal serve. Rune did well to stay within a break midway through the second set—particularly when, after 13 games, Draper had won 41.7% of Rune’s first-serve points, and 56.3% of points on his second serve.

“So far, Draper has the answers,” said Tennis Channel’s Jim Courier on the broadcast. “Rune, still searching.”

And searching Rune remained against the confident southpaw. Draper took a 4-2 second-set lead with a backhand drop shot. By the end of Draper’s 6-2, 6-2 triumph, he won 92.3 percent of first-serve points, 48.1 percent of all return points and went four of seven on break points.

This is Draper’s first title on an outdoor hard court, with more likely on the horizon. Courier, for one, thinks so. As the match wound down, the former No. 1 lauded Draper’s upside and potential, citing the amount of respect Alcaraz gave Draper after their semifinal.

“What Carlos Alcaraz said yesterday after his loss to Draper was really instructive;” said Courier—who noted that his fellow four-time Grand Slam champion had “almost trepidation,” and caused him to be anxious all day long. “That’s impressive that Draper can make someone like Alcaraz feel that way.”

Like Andreeva, Draper will be part of tennis’ future. And, as we saw on Sunday, its present.