LONDON — Prime seed Carlos Alcaraz edged Czech Jiri Lehecka 7-5, 6-7 (5), 6-2 on Sunday to assert his second Queen’s Membership title and ship out a robust assertion forward of his Wimbledon protection.
Alcaraz, who triumphed at Queen’s Membership just a few weeks earlier than claiming his first Wimbledon title in 2023, prolonged his profitable streak to 18 matches however was pushed exhausting by the highly effective Lehecka, who underlined his personal credentials as a rising drive.
Alcaraz, 22, pounced at 5-5 to interrupt Lehecka’s serve en path to bagging the opening set in 45 minutes.
The 23-year-old Lehecka, bidding to turn out to be the primary Czech to win the Queen’s Membership title since Ivan Lendl in 1990, continued going toe-to-toe with the five-time Grand Slam champion and gained the second set tiebreaker with some medical tennis.
Alcaraz cast forward 4-1 within the deciding set, nonetheless, as Lehecka’s degree lastly started to drop. Alcaraz then once more broke Lehecka’s serve to finish victory, letting out a roar of pleasure as Lehecka struck a backhand into the web.
