Holger Rune has his first win on grass. How did Lehecka start the tournament at the Queen’s Club?

The acclaimed tournament at the Queen’s Club gets into full swing on Tuesday. Most players, including favourites Carlos Alcaraz and Andy Murray, will have their opening matches here. Tuesday’s programme started with matches featuring two young tennis players with minimal grass court experience. Holger Rune and Jiri Lehecka.

Holger Rune is one of the next generation of successful tennis players. He has already won three tournament titles in the last year. Two on hard surface and one on clay. He hasn’t won a single match on grass. Last year, he lost three first-round matches. That’s the end of his grass court experience.

He was definitely going to change that this year at Queen’s Club. After all, his ranking position makes him the number two seed at the London event and he was the favourite against Frenchman Cressy in his opening match. The Dane’s opponent has struggled immensely this year. He has now lost ten matches in a row.

The course of the match

The Danish tennis player didn’t start well, losing his serve, but came back in the last possible moment to take the first set. He got the break at 4::5 and, encouraged by this success, won the first set in the tiebreak. The Frenchman, as has often been the case of late, struggled with his serve. In the first set he recorded eight double faults.

Maxime Cressy gradually improved and both tennis players held their serves in the second set. The American was closer to a break, but again it came down to a shortened game and the 20-year-old Dane was again the one to rejoice. Halvor Rune proved that he can win on grass and can look forward to a duel with the host Ryan Peniston, who is playing in the tournament thanks to a wild card.

Jiri Lehecka

The best Czech tennis player of today enjoyed his first match on grass a week ago in Stuttgart. He then put in a good performance against the American Tiafoe, who later won the entire German tournament.

The native of Mladá Boleslav had a duel with the Spaniard Davidovich Fokina. The 24-year-old is three places ahead of Lehecka and has more experience on grass courts. He was therefore a slight favourite against the Czech player.

Tuesday’s duel

The opening of the match was influenced by two events. The Czech tennis player did not take advantage of the break point opportunities on Fokina’s serve, while the Spaniard turned his into an important second game winner. He continued to serve well. He stumbled at the last possible moment when he missed his serve to win the first set. Jiri Lehecka handled the very end well and won the first set in the tiebreak.

The second set was marked by excellent service from the Czech player. Lehecka won all but one point after his first service. Fokina didn’t come close to any chance to break the Czech’s serve, and when Lehecka took advantage of his sixth break point during the second set, everything was heading his way.

Lehecka thus rejoices in his progress to the second round after 7::6, 6::4 sets. Not only does he gain more points in the ATP rankings, but he will probably play the world number two and the main star of this year’s Queen’s Club, Carlos Alcaraz.

Source: ATP