Fils beats Lehecka to set up Sinner semi-final showdown in Madrid
Arthur Fils beat Jiri Lehecka 6-3, 6-4 on Wednesday evening. He’ll face Italian Jannik Sinner, the top seed, in the next round
Arthur Fils, Madrid 2026 | © Magic Trophy Promotion
Arthur Fils, the No 21 seed, avenged his 6-2, 6-2 thrashing in Miami six weeks ago by beating Czech Jiri Lehecka, the No 11 seed, 6-3, 6-4 on Wednesday evening to reach the semi-finals of the Mutua Madrid Open – his second consecutive Masters 1000 semi-final and the clearest evidence yet of how far his comeback has travelled.
He is the first French man to reach the semifinals in Madrid since the tournament moved to clay in 2009.
The match was one-sided in a way the Miami result had been, but in the opposite direction. Fils conceded zero breaks across the entire match. He broke twice at 1-0 in the first set and 3-3 in the second, and seized control from there. He won nine of his last 13 games to close out the second set, leaving Lehecka, who had dismantled Lorenzo Musetti in the previous round.
Before his back injury sidelined him for eight months in 2025, Fils had never reached a Masters semi-final. He has now done it in consecutive events – Miami and Madrid – and has won nine consecutive matches, 13 of his last 14. The arc from saving two match points in the first round against Atmane in Barcelona to facing the world No 1 in the last four is one of the more compelling stories of the clay season.
Sinner awaits in the semi-finals. The world No 1 and Fils have never met. The head-to-head stands at 0-0, and the occasion, for the 21-year-old Frenchman who was not certain he would return to this level, will be the biggest match of his career.
