Draper received the celebrated 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 battling a bruised bone in his service arm through the clay-court swing in April, and the problem progressively worsened.
Determined to full a full restoration from the problem, Draper took the choice to miss the Australian Open in January earlier than making his return for Great Britain on 5 February.
Seeded fourth in Dubai, Draper had to face up to a set level when serving at 5-4 down in the opening set however went on to edge a decent tie-break by winning three consecutive factors to overcome an 8-7 deficit.
Despite first-set alternatives for each gamers, the primary break of serve in the competition didn’t arrive till the fourth sport of the second set when the 68th-ranked Halys hit broad to give 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 price on his first serve.
The left-hander’s profitable restoration from harm was additionally underlined by the actual fact 19 of his 24 winners flew off his beforehand affected forehand aspect.
Meanwhile, it was a combined bag for Britons Katie Boulter and Cameron Norrie in Mexico.
Boulter, 29, got here by 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.
