Jiri Lehecka had a clear game plan coming into his sixth career match against Taylor Fritz: be present, and stay aggressive. Though he “stepped back” towards the end of the second set, he stepped up in the decider to score a 6-4, 6-7 (2), 6-2 win over the No. 6 seed to reach the Miami Open quarterfinals.
“I kind of felt that in the second set, I gave Taylor a little bit more time to play how he wants to,” the No. 21 seed told Prakash Amritraj at the Cadillac Tennis Channel Desk. “I wasn’t feeling great, didn’t create that many chances.
“So, that’s why I needed to improve this in the third set, to be more aggressive from the return and finish points at the net.”
Lehecka served a whopping 10 aces against Fritz, who lead their head-to-head 4-1 coming into their fourth-round encounter on Tuesday, and saved all five break points faced to advance in just under two and a half hours and book a last-eight clash against Spanish qualifier Martin Landaluce.
