Jack Draper shares Jannik Sinner wish as Brit follows in Andy Murray's footsteps

Jack Draper has expressed his wish to team up with Jannik Sinner again in the future. The British No. 1 continues to make strides forward at the US Open after matching Andy Murray's achievement.

Draper came up through the youth ranks alongside Sinner and the 22-year-old revealed they have become good friends, which was evident during their recent doubles pairing at the Canadian Open in Montreal.

The 22-year-old played with world No. 1 Sinner in the men's doubles at the Montreal Open earlier in August. Despite being forced to withdraw from contention in the third round, it is an experience Draper is keen to repeat in the future.

"I loved being on court with him," he said. "It was strange being on court with someone obviously that good. We played great doubles, and hopefully I get to play with him again."

Sinner has emerged as one of the true challengers to Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz after winning the Australian Open this year, and Draper admitted that he didn't used to rate the Italian when he was younger.

"The first time I met Jannik was, we were in an under-18 tournament. I think I played him in the doubles in a Grade 1 ITF," Draper revealed. "I didn't know him, but it was strange following his journey because when he was younger, he was probably not one of the best juniors.

"I remember playing him in doubles, and we were saying, 'oh, hit to him because he's not the best player on the court.

"Then, obviously, watching his progress from winning Bergamo challenger to getting to the top 20 very quickly when all of us were kind of 300, 400 in the world... I've obviously followed him and always think he's really well mannered and an amazing guy and good for the sport. His tennis is incredible too."

Like Sinner, Draper is in the ascendancy in men's tennis and his run in New York has been impressive to say the least, after reaching the US Open quarter-finals with a straightforward 6-3, 6-1, 6-2 victory over Tomas Machac.

He hasn't dropped a set, has only been broken once and has lost just 26 games in four matches, including a dominant win against Alcaraz's conqueror Botic van de Zandschlup.

In beating Machac, the No. 25 seed became the first Briton since Andy Murray in 2016 - his close friend and mentor - to reach the last eight at Flushing Meadows, and the youngster spoke of his delight in following Murray's footsteps.

"I think [I'm] incredibly proud of that achievement, it's one of the biggest tournaments in the world," he said. "To follow in Andy's footsteps and make the quarterfinals here since he did it in 2016, it's a big achievement for me.

"But I've just got to keep on going because I know that there's still room for improvement and still room to hopefully go further in the tournament. Really, really proud of that achievement and hopefully I can do more."

Draper will face 10th seed Alex de Minaur in the quarter-finals on Wednesday as he bids to make the semi-finals for the first time in his career.