Czech Republic’s Jiri Lehecka shakes hands with Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz after winning their quarter final match.
| Photo Credit: Reuters
Top-seeded Carlos Alcaraz lost for just the second time this year on Thursday when 25th-ranked Jiri Lehecka beat him 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 in the quarterfinals of the Qatar Open.
Alcaraz’s only other defeat in 2025 was to Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open quarterfinals. The 21-year-old Spaniard, ranked No. 3, won the Rotterdam Open earlier this month.
The 23-year-old Lehecka, who is from the Czech Republic, will next face either eighth-seeded Jack Draper or Matteo Berrettini.
“The match was up and down since the beginning,” Lehecka said after beating Alcaraz. “So for me to win a match like that against a player like this is a super big achievement. I believed in myself. I knew that I had the level to produce that kind of tennis.
“I didn’t back down,” he continued. “I wanted to push him to his limits. The way I trusted my game was the key today.”
Earlier, fifth-seeded Andrey Rublev saved one match point and needed eight of his own to subdue second-seeded Alex de Minaur 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (8). Rublev reached his fourth semifinals in Doha, where he won the title in 2020.
He’ll next face Canada’s Félix Auger-Aliassime, who beat Daniil Medvedev when the Russian retired after losing the first set 6-3.
“Unfortunately, I had food poisoning. Very disappointed to end my run here in Doha like this as I feel like I was playing well,” Medvedev said in a statement.
Auger-Aliassime said on court he thought Medvedev was “playing normal” until he retired.
“And then I broke, I held my serve. And he just told (the umpire) that he didn’t want to shake our hands because he was sick. I hope it’s nothing too bad. I was surprised,” the Canadian said.
Published – February 21, 2025 05:13 am IST
