At the end of the Tuesday competition in Rotterdam, Hubert Hurkacz (21. ATP) and Jiri Leheck (24) came out to the court. The Pole and the Czech Republic started the match just before midnight due to the prolonged meeting between Italy Mattia Bellucim and Russian Danił Medvedev.
Before the match, it was difficult to indicate the favorite in Hurkacz's clash with Lehecka. Our player for the first time in four years fell out of the TOP 20 in the world, in January in Australian Open dropped out in the second round. The Czech tennis player has the best months in his career behind him – at the beginning of the year he won the tournament in Brisbane and was in the 1/8 final in Melbourne.
Hurkacz defended himself and then broke
The beginning of the match was very even. Both tennis players easily maintained their applications, they are famous for their strong websites. Returons could not do much in such situations.
At 3: 2 for Lehecki Hurkacz found himself in trouble. First, the Czech brought his rival into the net, and then passed nicely. Then he sent two fantastic forhends. He had four chances of breaking, Hurkacz defended mainly with the service.
Lehecka looked better in exchanges, longer actions usually ended in a point for the representative of our southern neighbors. However, the Pole led to 3: 3.
And when it seemed that the fate of the set would decide the tie-break of the Czech tennis player, a temporary crisis. He made a few mistakes – including tactical, when he sent a poor shortcut, Hurkacz easily reached the ball and played great on the loom. The first Break Point appeared for him, which he immediately used the mistake of the opponent from Forthend.
Pole in the quarter -finals!
A moment later our player confirmed the break and won the batch 7: 5. After the end of Seta, Jiri Leheck asked for a medical break. A moment earlier he caught his thigh several times. He had a distorted face, he could not believe that the injury could eliminate him from the tournament.
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After a few minutes the game was resumed, but not for long. Hurkacz quickly broke Lehecka, who, despite the help of the physiotherapist, did not feel better physically. He moved poorly around the court. At 5: 7, 0: 2 and 0:40 from the Czech side, the rival Hubert Hurkacz gave up a duel. The gentlemen managed to finish the duel before midnight – it was 23:54.
Our tennis player certainly wanted to win in other circumstances, but it must be appreciated that he served well in this meeting. He also found himself well at the net, tried to take over the initiative. He impressed with volley and concentration at the most important moments. He competed with Jirim Lehecka for the second time and won the second time. Earlier exactly a year ago – also in Rotterdam. Then in the first round he beat Czech 6: 3, 6: 7, 7: 6.
In the quarter -finals in the Netherlands, Hurkacz will play with a better pair of Andrej Rublow (10. ATP, Russia) – Fabian Marozan (57, Hungary). Their match will be played Thursday and the 1/4 final on Friday. Broadcasts in Polsat Sport, reports at Sport.pl.