15.06.2021 13:55:40 | Last year Jiří Lehečka was a superstar at the Prostějov challenger: as a wild card holder he made it all the way to the semis. This year he and Veselý appeared on the official tournament poster and everybody had great expectations he would make it very far again.
“I like it here in Prostějov, it’s my domestic tournament. I know the courts and will enjoy full service here. I want to take advantage of it,“ Lehečka said firmly before the tournament. At the Bratislava challenger he beat the domestic Lukáš Klein in the first round and lost in the quarterfinals to the Griekspoor of Netherlands who later became the champion. The former one blocked his way at the MONETA Czech Open in Prostějov today.
Yet still Jiří Lehečka had the match against Klein under control and could have decided it in his favor. In the first set the domestic player was losing 0:2, but turned the match to 3:2 and the Slovak leveled up to 3:3. Then Lehačka’s big moments came: he was leading 5:3 on his serve and had six set points! Klein saved some of them with luck and was more courageous than Lehečka in others. The Czech player failed to convert the last decisive point even from the best prepared balls. It was followed by Klein’s winning streak to 7:5.
Those who thought Lehečka would give up were proven wrong. The player of TK AGROFERT Prostějov was soon leading 4:1. Klein reduced the score to 4:2, but Lehečka gave a strong response and took lead to 5:2. It seemed he would even up the sets but then the perhaps magical score 5:3 came again and Klein won four games in a row to 7:5…Lehečka could not outplay the patiently playing Slovak at end of rallies and missed a few easy shots. “I feel bad about it, naturally. The first key moment was the ninth game of the first set in which I failed to keep my serve. We were taking turns for long and the game took about ten minutes. Its result influenced the ending of the match. In the second set, I believed that something like that cannot happen again. But it was exactly the same,“ said Lehečka in disappointment.
