Madrid tournament | Félix Auger-Aliassime will face Jiří Lehečka in the semi-final

(Madrid) Félix Auger-Aliassime now knows the identity of his opponent for the semi-final of the Madrid tennis tournament this Friday, and it is perhaps not the one he anticipated or, perhaps to be, apprehended.

About 48 hours after eliminating Rafael Nadal in front of his Spanish compatriots, Czech Jiří Lehečka completed the men’s singles semifinals following the retirement of Russian Daniil Medvedev on Thursday evening at the Caja Mágica.

Fourth player in the world and third seed in the tournament, Medvedev resigned after the first set, which Lehečka won 6-4.

Medvedev appeared to injure his right thigh midway through the opening round and required treatment twice in hopes of easing his discomfort, after the fifth and seventh games.

Serving with a score of 4-4, Medvedev suffered a break, and Lehečka continued by allowing only one point to his serve to complete the first set in just over 30 minutes.

It was after this game that Medvedev conceded victory.

“It’s never easy in a match like this,” Lehečka said, referring to Medvedev’s withdrawal, in an interview published on the ATP website.

“If I had to choose how to win a match, it wouldn’t be like this. It’s never easy to see your opponent struggling, but at that moment you need to focus on yourself and try to play at your maximum level. »

Qualified for the semi-finals following the withdrawal of world number two, Italian Jannik Sinner, Auger-Aliassime seemed destined to cross swords with Medvedev, a rival against whom he suffered seven defeats in as many matches, all played on hard surface.

Rather, the 23-year-old Montrealer, 35^e in the world, will face a rival who is a year younger, who is 31^e echelon of the ATP rankings and who won their only clash.

This match took place during the round of 16 of the Australian Open, in January 2023, and Lehečka triumphed in four sets, including the last two in a tiebreaker, after losing the first set.

On his way to the semi-final of the tournament in Madrid, Auger-Aliassime delivered his most convincing performance against the Norwegian Casper Ruud, sixth player in the world, whom he beat in two sets of 6-4, 7-5 on Tuesday .

Auger-Aliassime will participate in his third career semi-final at a Masters 1000, and his first since October 2022 in Paris, where he lost to the Dane Holger Rune.

In 2019, Auger-Aliassime also reached the semi-final at the Miami tournament, but lost against the American John Isner.

In Lehečka’s case, it is a first semi-final at a Masters 1000 tournament.

The other semi-final of the men’s singles will see the Russian Andrey Rublev (8^e) face the American Taylor Fritz (13^e).

Swiątek with ease

Among the women, the Polish Iga Świątek easily qualified for a second participation in a row in the grand final of the tournament.

First world player, Świątek defeated the American Madison Keys, ranked 20^ein two sets of 6-1 and 6-3.

“It was a pretty clean performance and a really solid match from me. Everything satisfies me,” Świątek analyzed.

The Madrid Open is the only major tournament played on clay in Europe that Świątek has never won.

For Świątek, it will be a third final this year, after his triumphs in Indian Wells and Doha.

Her opponent will be Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, second-ranked player in the world, who came from behind to defeat fourth-ranked Kazakh Elena Rybakina, 1-6, 7-5, 7-6 (5).

Sabalenka beat Świątek in the final in Madrid last year.

With Tales Azzoni, from the Associated Press