Jiri Lehecka amps up aggression, sends Taylor Fritz out of Miami Open

Jiri Lehecka had a clear game plan coming into his sixth career match against Taylor Fritz: be present, and stay aggressive. Though he “stepped back” towards the end of the second set, he stepped up in the decider to score a 6-4, 6-7 (2), 6-2 win over the No. 6 seed to reach the Miami Open quarterfinals.

“I kind of felt that in the second set, I gave Taylor a little bit more time to play how he wants to,” the No. 21 seed told Prakash Amritraj at the Cadillac Tennis Channel Desk. “I wasn’t feeling great, didn’t create that many chances.

“So, that’s why I needed to improve this in the third set, to be more aggressive from the return and finish points at the net.”

Lehecka served a whopping 10 aces against Fritz, who lead their head-to-head 4-1 coming into their fourth-round encounter on Tuesday, and saved all five break points faced to advance in just under two and a half hours and book a last-eight clash against Spanish qualifier Martin Landaluce.

“Against a player like he is, I really need to bring my ‘A’ game,” said Lehecka, who had never been past the third round in three previous main-draw appearances in Miami. “I need to serve well and I can’t give him any chance to feel comfortable on court. So, that’s what I was trying to do. Of course, it’s impossible to hold it the whole match, but I was close.”

Fritz has struggled physically in recent months and weighed an extended break from the game coming into this week’s Masters 1000 tournament. Still, the American has proven more than capable of winning matches through injuries and battled through a second-set tiebreaker to force a third.

“It gave me a signal to change something,” Lehecka said of the setback. “I needed to be a little bit more aggressive. Against a guy like him, who is serving incredibly, his return is one of the best on tour. I kind of feel that he can absorb the fast balls easily. At the same time, he can create the power by himself. Sometimes, when you play someone like Taylor, you feel like this guy has answers for everything. That’s what I didn’t want to feel today, and that’s why I was focusing more on the openings of the points. It worked well.”

Lehecka opened up about working with a mental coach between tournaments, and felt his high level helped keep him tough through the match’s trickier moments.

“You always need to stay in the present, which is so easy to say, but when you’re on the court and the opponent plays well, you’re not feeling great and it’s the biggest challenge!” said Lehecka. “Today, I think my game helped me a little bit to feel good on court.”

In a quarter of the draw that initially featured world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz, Lehecka will instead face another Spaniard in Landaluce, one who is in the midst of a career breakthrough in Miami. The 20-year-old planted a third straight set to reach the quarterfinals, ending No. 32 seed Sebastian Korda’s run from a set down earlier in the afternoon. Korda shocked Alcaraz in three sets this weekend.

For Lehecka, 24, it’s an opportunity to reach a second Masters semifinal, and first since the 2024 Mutua Madrid Open on clay.