ATP Adelaide: Lehecka blows away Korda in semi-final
Jiri Lehecka won against Sebastian Korda 6-2, 6-1 on Friday night and will play the winner of Jack Draper and Alexander Bublik for the title
Jiri Lehecka 2024 (© AI / Reuters / Panoramic)
No 7 seed Jiri Lehecka advanced to the final of the Adelaide Open by winning against American Sebastian Korda, the No 3 seed, 6-2, 6-1 at the Memorial Drive Tennis Centre on Friday night.
It was a battle between two 2023 Australian Open quarter-finalists, and with Korda coming into this clash as the defending Adelaide finalist, Lehecka well and truly blew the American away.
“I was a bit surprised that it went this well,” Lehecka said after sending Korda home for the loss of just three games. “But I did everything I could to make it through, I’m very happy to make it, and I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s final.”
Impressive Lehecka serves his heart out to secure career-high ranking
The Czech was as impressive on serve as Korda was poor. Lehecka landed seven aces, made 67 per cent of his first serves and won the point 77 per cent of the time, while Korda failing to record a single ace, only making his first serve 59 per cent of the time and winning just 55 per cent of first serve points.
With 22 winners and only six unforced errors, Lehecka has fired a warning shot ahead of the Australian Open. The 22-year-old is now into his second ATP final, and will record a new career-high ranking on Monday regardless of the result, with Lehecka guaranteed to be No 27 or higher.
Lehecka, ranked No 32, will play the winner of the match between Jack Draper and Kazakh Alexander Bublik, the No 8 seed, next.
Jiri Lehecka beat Australian qualifier Adam Walton (6-1, 6-3), Serb Dusan Lajovic (7-5, 4-6, 6-3) and Chilean Nicolas Jarry, the second seed (6-4, 7-5) ahead of his victory.
In the previous rounds of the Adelaide tournament, Korda, ranked No 29, won against Italian Lorenzo Sonego (6-4, 7-6 (10)) and Australian wildcard Christopher O’Connell (6-4, 6-4).
