Draper’s injury troubles began at Wimbledon last year, when he was having the best run of his career after reaching the 2024 US Open semi-finals and rising to a career-high fourth in the world rankings.
He added: “I’ve spent a lot of time off court with injury, I was on a great trajectory last year.
“My body stopped me in my tracks. I wasn’t able to play and the last year has been really difficult.”
But Draper continued his strong start under new coach Sir Andy Murray with another confident performance on the south coast on Wednesday.
The left-hander started brightly and broke serve early on, but he squandered a set point at 5-4 up and Pinnington Jones, 23, struck back thanks to a lucky net-cord winner.
But Draper restored his lead immediately and his serve, which has looked impressive upon his return, saw him through the opener with back-to-back aces.
The former British number one carried the momentum into the second set and, after breaking early again, he didn’t face a break point before wrapping up the success and sharing a warm embrace with Pinnington Jones at the net.
“Jack’s a great friend, so it’s tough playing against a good friend. He’s still young, he recently came out of college and he’s been building his way up the rankings,” said Draper.
“I believe he’s going to be a top, top player and I think he showed that today.”
Draper was joined by fellow Britons Jan Choinski and Toby Samuel in the last eight.
Choinski defeated compatriot Felix Gill 6-4 6-7 (4-7) 6-2 to reach his first ATP Tour quarter-final, while lucky loser Samuel claimed his first Tour-level win with a 6-1 7-6 (9-7) victory over Argentina’s Thiago Agustin Tirante.
Gill, also a lucky loser, had been a late replacement for defending men’s champion Taylor Fritz, who withdrew in order to give himself the “best chance of being 100%” for Wimbledon after injury issues.
In the women’s draw, American second seed Madison Keys breezed past Jessica Bouzas Maneiro of Spain 6-0 6-1, while Latvian third seed Jelena Ostapenko came from behind to beat Hungary’s Panna Udvardy 3-6 6-1 6-2.
