Draper received the distinguished Masters 1,000 title at Indian Wells and reached the fourth spherical of the Australian and French Opens in a promising begin to his 2025 season.
But he started scuffling with a bruised bone in his service arm throughout the clay-court swing in April, and the problem progressively worsened.
Determined to finish a full restoration from the problem, Draper took the choice to overlook the Australian Open in January earlier than making his return for Great Britain on 5 February.
Seeded fourth in Dubai, Draper needed to face up to a set level when serving at 5-4 down within the opening set however went on to edge a decent tie-break by successful three consecutive factors to beat an 8-7 deficit.
Despite first-set alternatives for each gamers, the primary break of serve within the contest didn’t arrive till the fourth recreation of the second set when the 68th-ranked Halys hit large to present Draper a 3-1 lead.
Draper served out victory untroubled from there, conceding simply two additional factors on function he ending the match with a powerful 86% win fee on his first serve.
The left-hander’s profitable restoration from damage was additionally underlined by the actual fact 19 of his 24 winners flew off his beforehand affected forehand facet.
Meanwhile, it was a combined bag for Britons Katie Boulter and Cameron Norrie in Mexico.
Boulter, 29, got here by way of her first-round tie with Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-4 6-4 on the Merida Open in Mexico.
But seventh seed Norrie, 30, fell to a shock 6-3 6-2 defeat by Spain’s Rafael Jodar on the Mexican Open.
