Jiří Lehečka in the Semis? Great Match with a Sad Ending

11.09.2020 14:24:00 | Jiří Lehečka played the biggest match of his career on the center court today. He has never reached the semi-finals at a challenger before. He faced Kamil Majchrzak (ATP 107) whom many considered the favorite to advance to the final. The eighteen-year-old Czech entered the match without any respect. Both players held their serves until 3:3.

Lehečka took advantage to his serve in difficult moments. The Pole was more creative, patient and accurate in rallies. Yet still Lehečka broke Majchrzak’s serve and was leading 4:3. He had three advantages on his serve but the Pole managed to level at 4:4. Then Lehečka had his big moment when he broke the Pole at 5:4, used his perfect serve in the end of the set. Two aces helped him to relax and his second serve worked well too, 6:4.

Those who expected Lehečka to be mentally up and have the upper hand in the second set were proved wrong. The young Czech only won his first game at 1:5 and finally lost the set 1:6. How was the third set? Lehečka held his serve with ease and after he made the fifth double fault in the third game he immediately compensated it by an ace, 2:1. The fifth game was fatal for Lehečka: he lost his serve, but the Pole made some errors and was losing 15:40. He managed to turn it around and take the lead at 4:2. Then, he just finished the match. Lehečka played enthusiastically but it did not suffice against the experienced Polish player, 2:5. Then Majchrzak added his serve, 6:3. “Kamil didn’t make any unforced error from the second set on. He was very solid and proved to be a great player,” said Jiří Lehečka.

“I played well in the first set and my opponent made only two little errors in the end, which helped me a lot. I quickly lost the second set and then we played the third one. The sixth game of the final set was decisive: I had a chance to level at 3:3, but I didn’t convert two break points. The opponent was experienced enough to finish the match with ease,” said the last Czech representative in singles. However, he was satisfied with his performance at the tournament. “I played many good matches and gained a lot of experience. I just need to go on like that,” said Lehečka.