Lehecka gets past Draper to make Queen’s final
Jiri Lehecka is into a grass-court final
Jiri Lehecka (Javier Garcia/Shutterstock/SIPA)
Jiri Lehecka is into the first grass-court final of his career, beating British hope Jack Draper 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 at Queen’s.
He is the first Czech man to reach the final of a grass-court tournament since Tomas Berdych at Wimbledon in 2010.
“It means a lot, you don’t beat a player like Jack every day,” he said on court afterwards, thanking the London crowd for being fair in their support of both players.
Lehecka completed the job in two hours and seven minutes, aided by an exceptional first set in which he did not face a break point.
This will be his fifth final on the ATP Tour, and the first above ATP 250 level.
It is his first Top 10 win since February, when he beat Carlos Alcaraz in the quarter-final of Doha.
Lehecka is set to move into the ATP Top 25 when the new rankings are released, while Draper will return to his career-high of world No 4.
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