Lehecka to play in Monte Carlo eighth round after victory over former world No. 3

Jiří Lehečka faced Grigor Dimitrov in the second round of the Masters in Monte Carlo on Wednesday.The 25th player in the ATP ranking was a slight favourite, but the young Czech tennis player defeated him in two sets and advanced to the eighth round.

The 21-year-old Czech started the tournament in Monaco with a victory over Finn Emil Ruusuvuori. After a comfortable first set, which he won 6:1, he turned the second set from 2:5 to 7:5.

On Tuesday, the former world number three from Bulgaria took on Ben Shelton from the USA in a more than two-hour duel on the clay court at the Monte Carlo Country Club. The match ended with 6::1, 3::6 and 6::3.

The match was evenly matched before the match. At last year’s Australian Open, Dimitrov was victorious after four sets, nine months later in Stockholm after a three-set tiebreak battle.

In the opening two games, both players took each other’s serves. At the score of 3::3, the native of Kněžmost, Central Bohemia, lost his serve again and his opponent then jumped out to a 5::3 lead.

But Lehecek managed to equalize again and the game had to be decided by a shortened game. It was the Czech talent who had the upper hand, dominating it 7::4 after the second set point.

The following game was long without any major twists and turns. However, at 4::4, the 42nd player of the world played a clean game on the Bulgarian ace’s serve and came much closer to advancing. He calmly finished the match with an ace.

After 7::6 and 6::4, Jiri Lehecka can now prepare for his participation in the next round. His opponent for the eighth round will come from the clash between American Taylor Fritz and Swiss Stan Wawrinka.

The 2023 Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters will culminate on Sunday, April 16. The defending champion is Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece. Live coverage of the prestigious ATP 1000 event will be broadcast on Eurosport 2.

Source: ATP, Eurosport 2