While he couldn't finally get out of the trophy, Draper's performance on Madrid Clay highlights why he is undoubtedly a serious force on all surfaces.
Draper has long been promoted to the highest level of men's competition, and Andy Murray said last year that he believes left-handers have the potential to be number one in the world in the future.
It was at Draper who won his first ATP title on Stuttgart Grass and promoted him to No. 1 in the UK.
He has continued to make great strides since then.
After struggling to overcome physical problems, Draper answered some critics with three back-to-back five-set wins at the Australian Open in January.
More importantly, it increases his own beliefs.
He reached the Doha final in the next tournament and then achieved another important milestone in his career – winning his first Masters title in the famous Indian Wells Hard-Court Championship.
Draper has continued to grow since then. He felt confident that his game could flourish on clay-style clay fields produced at the Spanish capital's altitude.
Move in his opening five games without putting down a set of backups.
Draper's service was an important tool for his success and the cruelty of the forehand, which pushed the opponent behind the baseline and created a thunderous winner.
However, facing Rude will always be a difficult proposition.
The 15th World Ranking is one of the main clay figures in the men's competition and shows why in his performance, he needs to do his best to beat Drapper.
Ruud's success got his first serving, winning 81% of those points and showing he had a physical victory.
“There are no holes in Jack's game,” Rud said, who will return to the top ten on Monday.
“I think he'll be getting harder to play on clay. He'll be a threat. The sky is his limit.”
