Lehecka comes from behind to beat Draper and win first ATP title in Adelaide

No 7 seed Jiri Lehecka defeated Jack Draper 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 to lift the Adelaide Open trophy at the Memorial Drive Tennis Centre on Saturday night.

Nine years ago, the pair faced each other in an Under-14s tournament in the Czech Republic. Lehecka was a wildcard, while Draper was top seed, and yet the Czech came away victorious.

Heading into the Adelaide Open final, many saw Draper as the favourite, considering it was his second consecutive ATP final and many rate him as a future top 10 player. But again, Lehecka rained on the Brit’s parade, causing an upset in their second meeting to win his first ever ATP title.

“It’s hard for me to say something because it’s so emotional for me to win my first title here in Adelaide,” shared Lehecka after the match. “I’m super excited.”

The 22-year-old now moves to a career high of No 23 in the world heading into the Australian Open.

A match that pivoted around one shot

Across the opening 18 games of this match, it was all Draper. Lehecka competed hard, but it was the Brit who held his serve easier, had more break points, and ultimately won the first set.

At 4-4 and 0-30 on Lehecka’s serve, Draper was knocking on the door of his first ATP title. The 22-year-old ripped a passing shot to Lehecka’s forehand wing, that nine times out of 10 would have won him the point and given him three break points in the second set.

Lehecka executed an incredible stretch volley that dropped onto Draper’s side of the net on such a sharp angle that it was an instant winner. Draper had the sportsmanship to give Lehecka a low-five over the net after the point, but perhaps he wouldn’t have been so gracious if he knew what was coming next.

The Czech powered his way back into the game, proceeding to hold his own serve and then break Draper to win the set out of nowhere. Immediately in the third set, Lehecka broke again, creating what was a five-game winning streak.

Draper berated himself between ends, devastated that he’d come within six points of claiming the match and could now see it slipping out of his fingers. The next game, Draper had a prime opportunity to break back at 0-40, but some steely resolve from Lehecka saw off the threat.

With some excellent front-running tennis, Lehecka’s serving and power game saw him race to the finish line and claim a match that looked like it would go the other way.

Lehecka, ranked No 32, beat Australian qualifier Adam Walton (6-1, 6-3), Serb Dusan Lajovic (7-5, 4-6, 6-3), Chilean Nicolas Jarry, the second seed (6-4, 7-5) and American Sebastian Korda, the No 3 seed (6-2, 6-1) in the previous rounds of the Adelaide tournament.

Earlier in the tournament, Draper, ranked No 62, defeated Argentinian Sebastian Baez, the No 5 seed (6-1, 6-3), Serb Miomir Kecmanovic (5-7, 7-6 (9), 7-6 (7)), American Tommy Paul, the top seed (6-1, 6-4) and Kazakh Alexander Bublik, the No 8 seed (7-6 (2), 6-4).