06.06.2017 10:29:59 | The Prostejov tournament throne is vacant, the defending champion Kukushkin of Kazakhstan lost to Chilean Jarry on the first day of the main event of UniCredit Czech Open. Jarry beat the fourth seeded Kukushkin in two sets. The double Prostejov champion Jiri Vesely will set on the journey to his third title in the third match on the centre court with – ironically – a Kazakh again, Dmitryj Popko, 190th ATP. He also lost to Chilean Jarry who defeated his countryman, neither he managed to beat the Chilean in the second qualification round of Roland Garros. Jiri Vesely first triumphed in 2014, he beat Slovak Gombos in the final, in 2015 he defeated Serbian Djere. Vesely was on a good way to achieve his first title as early as 2013 but he lost to Radek Stepanek.
Last year, Vesely lost to Kukushkin. "The first set was terrible on my part, then some improvement came but at the end all went wrong again," defeated defending champion Vesely said after the match. "At times it was unbelievable what I was doing there." And what are Vesely's feelings this year? In Paris, he advanced to the third round, he was definitely weakened by a cold but he was certainly happy with his performance at Roland Garros, victories over American Sock and Bedene of Britain are very valuable.
What were Vesely's feelings in 2015 when he defended the title? "I knew it would be very difficult, when you play at home and there are friends and family in the crowd, the pressure is great. It was a very difficult week for me, I did not perform my best but what I know for sure – I fought mainly in moments when I was not doing well. I told myself – you must not be afraid, you must go on. I value my success highly and I realize it was not for free. I had on my mind that I should defend the last year's title but the more I was thinking about it, the more complicated and difficult it seemed."
This must be how Jiri Vesely feels this year, too, he is one of the favourites of the 24th Prostejov challenger.
