Photo Source: TTV
Seeds have been dropping like flies in the Middle East this week. All of the top five seeds are already out of the WTA 1000 event in Dubai (ahead of the semifinals), and on Thursday a pair of top four seeds scattered from the 500 draw in Doha, as Alex de Minaur followed Daniel Medvedev out of the draw.
Jiri Lehecka, a strapping 23-year-old ranked 25th in the world, continued the trend early Thursday evening as he recorded his biggest career win against top-seeded Carlos Alcaraz.
The Czech came through a riveting back-and-forth struggle 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, to reach the semifinals in Doha, and ensure that none of the top four seeds (Novak Djokovic also lost early, to Matteo Berrettini) would play a role this weekend.
“It feels great,” Lehecka said after his win, which snapped Alcaraz's winning streak at seven.
“The match was up and down since the beginning, so for me to win a match like that against a player like this is a super big achievement. I believed in myself and I knew that I had the level to produce that kind of tennis, and I knew that if I would be more consistent in my matches, I will be able to bring these results more and more.”
Lehecka, who improved to 1-1 lifetime against Alcaraz, rallied from a break down in the opening set and held his ground as Alcaraz tried to mount a rally in the later stages. The Czech played nearly twice as many service points as Alcaraz in the set, but he delivered when he needed to, saving a break point as he served the set out for 6-3, converting his fourth set point to take the lead.
Alcaraz, who had built momentum late in the first set, swiftly capitalized on it in the second set.
He broke for 2-1 and never looked back, forcing a decider, and was quick to get to work in the third set as well earning his first break point in the third game.
A big serve got Lehecka out of trouble at that point, the Czech reeled off three consecutive points, in fact, to hold for 2-1.
A smash winner gave Alcaraz another break point two games later. It came after a wildly entertaining cluster of points that saw the Spaniard throw himself around the court much to the delight of the fans in Doha. Lehecka netted a forehand and Alcaraz had been rewarded with his break for 3-2. .
Alcaraz succeeded to tighten up his game and let Lehecka know that he’d have to play perfect, red-lined tennis to beat him down the stretch. Looking very much in control he consolidated for 4-2, but Lehecka's best had yet to come.
The Czech broke back for 4-4 and continued to press, eventually breaking Alcaraz again as he converted his first match point to close out his sixth career Top-10 win in two hours and eight minutes.
“I think that the most important thing today was that I just still believed in my game,” he said. “I didn’t back down. … I still wanted to play my game style, I still wanted to be an aggressive player, I wanted to push him to his limits. I was just waiting for the right moment to put all these things together and it happened for me when I broke him back in the third set.
“The way I trusted my game was the key today.”
Lehecka, who is into the Doha finals for the second time (also 2023), finished with 18 winners and 36 unforced errors while Alcaraz hit 32 winners against 25 unforced errors – the Spaniard’s statistical edge a small consolation as he suffers his second loss of 2025
In other action on Thursday in Doha, Andrey Rublev battled past second-seeded Alex de Minaur and Felix Auger-Aliassime advanced when third-seeded Daniil Medvedev was forced to retire after a set due to illness.
No.8-seeded Jack Draper rallied for a three-set win over Matteo Berrettini in the nightcap.
Here's how the semifinal lineup shapes up: