Lehecka started Alcaraz’s next service game with two point-winning forehands, and broke by out-playing Alcaraz in a long rally. At 4-4, he powered through an easy service hold and finished with an ace. Finally, with Alcaraz serving at 4-5, 30-30, Lehecka took his chance. Two chances, actually: He fired back a strong forehand return to reach match point, then hit an even better backhand return to complete the upset and record his first victory over the world No. 3
“I feel great on a night like this,” Lehecka said. “The match was just up and down since the beginning. It’s a super-big achievement.”
Alcaraz’s defeat ended his win streak, ended his bid to win Doha in his debut, and ended his effort, for this week, to gain more ground on No. 1 Jannik Sinner, who will miss upcoming 1000-level events in Indian Wells, Miami (where he’s the defending champion), and Monte Carlo before his doping suspension ends on May 4.
Alcaraz is known for his ups and downs from one set to the net, but in Rotterdam and Doha he had found ways not to let those dips in form prove fatal. Was this a case of him reverting to his more erratic ways? There were certain shot selections you could quibble with. In the final game, for instance, he missed an ambitious volley that he probably should have let bounce; he double faulted at a key moment when he was up 4-3; and with a chance at a second break in the third set, he couldn’t get a fairly routine forehand return over the net.
