08.06.2023 15:39:42 | Jiří Lehečka's dream of winning the UniCredit Czech Open title was shattered by Lukáš Klein of Slovakia who will repeat his last year’s appearance in the semi-finals. The best Czech player lost 3:6, 4:6 after his opponent outplayed him especially from the baseline. "He was really better at the baseline. I couldn’t take advantage of my serve which was why the match was one-sided. I just could do much about it," said Lehečka disappointedly. Lehečka was already down 0:4 in the second set and although he won three games in a row, it was not enough to turn the match around.
"I changed a few things and it worked for a while. But the opponent didn’t hesitated in the ending of the set," Lehečka added. The Slovak player was much happier. He was more confident on court and admitted that he entered the match without any restraints or worries. "Jirka was playing at home, he is a higher-ranked player and was the favourite. He had to succeed, I could. I played well and was active. In the middle of the second set, I couldn't respond to his change of game for a while. But luckily I didn't make the match a big drama," Klein said with a smile.
Jiří Lehečka (41st) could not find a recipe against Lukáš Klein of Slovakia (133rd ATP) and was knocked out in the quarter-finals of the Prostějov Challenger. The top seed faced his opponent for the sixth time in his career and notched up his fourth H2H defeat.
