Czechs lost to Portugal in doubles, but Lehecka secured their place in the Davis Cup final

Sunday was the second day of the Davis Cup qualifying match between the home team and the Czech team of captain Jaroslav Navrátil in Maia, Portugal. Our tennis players went into the doubles clash with a 2:0 lead, but did not add the decisive third point. However, Jiří Lehečka then secured the qualification to the final tournament with his victory over João Sousa.

The Czechs made up for their lead on Saturday with Lehečka’s double 6:4 win over Nuno Borges and the subsequent victorious three-hour battle between Tomas Machac and Sousa. The native of Beroun dominated it after sets 7::6, 3::6 and 6::2.

Macháč joined the doubles competition alongside Adam Pavlasek from 4 p.m. on Sunday. The Portuguese teamed the doubles duo of Nunes and doubles specialist Francisco Cabral.

The Czech pair started well, taking a 4:1 lead in the first set. However, the opponents managed to turn the tables, as Machac and Pavlasek won only one game after that and lost 5::7.

In the second act, both pairs lost their serves three times, making it a tiebreak at the Complexo Municipal de Ténis da Maia. In the shortened game, Nunes and Cabral were more successful, dominating it 7:4.

The Portuguese team, led by Rui Machado, thus lowered the overall Davis Cup qualification status. However, in the duel between the number one players of both teams, the 39th player in the world, Jiri Lehecka, could have won the decisive point with his victory over João Sousa, the 84th player in the ATP ranking.

The key moment of their opening set came when the 21-year-old Czech took his opponent’s serve for the second time. Thanks to that, he won 6:4.

The second set had a clear course. Lehečka scored two break points against his experienced opponent and after taking the first match point at 6:1 he could celebrate an important victory.

This secured the Czech Republic’s qualification for the Davis Cup Finals 2023, the group stage of which will take place in mid-September. Two months later, the final play-off will take place in Málaga, Spain.

Teams from Croatia, France, the USA, Switzerland, Great Britain, Serbia, Chile, South Korea, Sweden, the Netherlands and Finland also made it through the qualifying round. The last champions from Canada, last year’s beaten finalists from Australia and the wild card holders from Italy and Spain were already guaranteed to be among the top 16 teams.

Source: Davis Cup