We know the draw for the qualifying match of Czech tennis players in Portugal. Lehečka will play the duel for the qualification to the final Davis Cup tournament

This weekend the Czech tennis team will try to qualify for the final tournament of the 111th Davis Cup on Portuguese clay. In Maia, Jiří Lehečka will be the first to play his match and should be the favourite. Which players will our national team face?

The draw for the qualifying clash took place on Friday afternoon at the town hall of the seat located near Porto.

This draw determined that the 39th tennis player in the world, Jiri Lehecka, will challenge Nuno Borges in the opening singles. He is a 25-year-old native of the city of Maia, who is currently 105th in the ATP singles rankings.

After that, the world number 122 player Tomas Machac will take the court. His opponent will be Portugal’s number one João Sousa, ranked 84th in the singles rankings.

For Saturday’s doubles match, after which the decision may already be made, the non-playing captain of the Czech Davis Cup team Jaroslav Navrátil nominated the doubles specialist Adam Pavlásek alongside Macháč.

They should be opposed by Borges and Francisco Cabral, who, like Pavlásek, will focus exclusively on doubles matches. Then Sousa and Lehecka and Borges and Macháč should face each other in the remaining matches in the sigle.

However, the nominations for the second day of play may still undergo changes on both sides. On both Saturday and Sunday, the programme starts at 4pm on the court of the Complexo Municipal de Ténis da Maia.

The 2023 Davis Cup qualifying round takes place at 12 different venues later this week. Croatia plays Austria at home, Hungary plays France, Uzbekistan plays the USA, Germany plays Switzerland, Colombia plays Great Britain, Norway plays Serbia, Chile plays Kazakhstan, South Korea plays Belgium, Sweden plays Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Netherlands plays Slovakia and Finland plays Argentina.

Four teams are already guaranteed to participate in the finals. Namely, the last champions from Canada, last year’s beaten finalists from Australia and the wild card holders from Italy and Spain.

Source: Davis Cup, Tennis World, ATP