Jack Draper’s hopes of profitable Queen’s had been ended by Jiri Lehecka when the British primary was crushed in an exciting semi-final.
The 23-year-old had battled again from dropping the primary set to take the second after which went toe-to-toe along with his Czech opponent within the third.
However Lehecka obtained an important break at 5-5, prompting Draper to smash his racquet into the promoting hoardings as he knew simply how damaging that was to his dream of reaching the ultimate.
And so it proved as Lehecka served to seal a 6-4 4-6 7-5 win in west London to advance to Sunday’s closing, the place he’ll face both high seed Carlos Alcaraz or Roberto Bautista Agut.
Draper had usually began slowly at this match earlier than stepping into his groove and profitable however on this occasion he discovered Lehecka had an excessive amount of for him.
He was damaged within the opening sport when a double fault gave Lehacka an early increase and the Czech used his huge serve nicely to shut out the primary set.
Draper’s failure to make the most of having 4 break factors within the fourth sport of the second set seemed like being pivotal, however he dug deep to remain within the match earlier than breaking Lehecka for the primary time at 5-4 as much as take issues to a decider.
From then on there was little to separate the 2 however the decisive second got here within the eleventh sport when Lehecka obtained the break and closed out the match to progress to his fifth ATP Tour closing and be sure that the wait continues for a primary British singles champion since five-time winner Andy Murray’s most up-to-date victory in 2016.
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