No. 5 seed Jiri Lehecka will face No. 7 seed, Dominic Stephan Stricker, in the semifinals of the Next Gen ATP Finals on Friday.
Jiri Lehecka
All of Jiri Lehecka’s matches in the round-robin stage were decided in straight sets. The 21-year-old won a Challenger title in Liberec and also made it to the semifinals in ATP Rotterdam. His recent form coming into the tournament had not been great but he has managed to make the semis with a couple of solid performances.
Lehecka began his campaign against Francesco Passaro. The former managed to make light work of the Italian and won the match 4-1, 4-3 (9-7), 4-1. In the second match, Brandon Nakashima got the better of him in straight sets 4-1, 4-3 (7-2), 4-1. In the final match against Matteo Arnaldi, Lehecka took 77 minutes to pick up the crucial win. The match finished 4-3 (7-5), 4-1, 4-3 (7-4), in favor of the world No. 74.
Dominic Stephan Stricker
The Swiss youngster has been a revelation in the tournament thus far. Part of a tough group, the world No. 111 has managed to come out unscathed. He had a clean slate 3-0 in the group stages and it allowed a smooth passage for him into the finals.
In the first match, Stricker produced a dogged display against Jack Draper and defeated the Brit by winning three competitive sets 4-3 (7-5), 4-3 (7-5), 4-3 (7-5). In the following match, the 20-year-old defeated the pre-tournament favorite Lorenzo Musetti in a pulsating five-set thriller. The match ended 4-3 (7-5), 4-3 (8-6), 3-4 (7-9), 3-4 (6-8), 4-3 (7-3). In his final match, Stricker blew away Tseng Chun-hsin in straight sets 4-2, 4-1, 4-2 to punch his ticket to the semis.
Head-to-Head and Prediction
The head-to-head scoreline currently stands at 1-0 in favor of Stricker as he defeated Lehecka 3-6,6-1, 6-4 in the qualifications in Halle back in June 2022.
Prediction: Dominic Stephan Stricker to win in four sets.
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