Czech Lehecka holds off Stricker to book place in Next Gen Finals

Czech Jiri Lehecka ended the brilliant run of Dominic Stricker to reach the final of the Next Gen Finals on Friday.

The 21-year-old world No 74 dominated the first two sets and though the Swiss hit back in set three, he rebounded in the fourth to clinch a superb 4-1, 4-3 (4), 2-4, 4-1 victory.

Lehecka, who made just seven unforced errors, will play either Britain’s Jack Draper or Brandon Nakashima of the United States in Saturday’s final.

Stricker had surprised a few people by winning his round-robin group, with wins over Draper, Lorenzo Musetti and Chun-hsin Tseng but Lehecka started brilliantly and held on well when the Swiss threatened to fight back.

“Today I think everything went my way, as I wanted,” Lehecka said. “Our plan was just go relaxed on the court, try to enjoy as much as I can, I think this was the key for this win, I’m very happy I made it.”

Stricker had beaten Lehecka when they played on the ATP Tour in Halle this summer and the Czech made some adjustments to get the job done on Friday.

“I remembered how we played on grass in Halle, I lost in three sets over there,” he said. “We saw Dominic went on an incredible journey since then and here he was playing incredible. I knew it would be different match today, different format, Very happy with my win.”

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