Jiří Lehečka Saves Match Point Against Struff to Reach Basel Final

Jiří Lehečka saved a match point before defeating Jan-Lennard Struff 3–6, 7–5, 6–4 in Saturday’s Basel semifinal, reaching the championship match against Valentin Vacherot at the indoor ATP 500 tournament.

Struff broke in the opening game and again late in the first set, taking control before Lehečka steadied his service games in the second. The Czech faced the prospect of elimination while serving at 4–5, but erased the match point and held for 5–5.

Lehečka broke immediately afterward and closed the set without losing a point on serve. He then broke at the start of the third set and protected that advantage through the finish, Ubitennis reported.

The eighth seed’s route through the draw began with a victory over Stan Wawrinka, followed by wins against Daniel Altmaier and wild card Jérôme Kym. Kym had eliminated top seed Ben Shelton before meeting Lehečka. Lehečka won each in straight sets.

The tournament’s results show that Lehečka defeated Kym 6–4, 6–2 in the quarterfinals. Struff reached the same stage by beating Nuno Borges 6–2, 6–3 in 58 minutes, following his victory over Novak Djokovic in the preceding round.

That Djokovic result was Struff’s first win in nine meetings with the former world No. 1. He had recovered from losing the opening set to win two tight sets, extending a week that ended one victory short of another title match.

Vacherot came through the other half after beating Holger Rune in the quarterfinals. Saturday’s final pairing was completed when he defeated sixth seed Taylor Fritz in straight sets, leaving Lehečka to prepare for the Monegasque rather than the American.

After Basel, Lehečka is drawn against Alex Michelsen in the opening round of the Paris Masters. Carlos Alcaraz awaits the winner in the second round.