Top seed Carlos Alcaraz suffered an upset defeat in the quarterfinals of the Qatar Open on Thursday, as Jiri Lehecka shocked the title favourite with a three-set win.
Alcaraz struggled initially, losing the opening set before drawing level. Despite down a break in the final set, Lehecka, ranked 25th globally, mounted a remarkable comeback, claiming the last four games to secure a 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 victory.
Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!"Honestly, I don't know what I could have done better," said Alcaraz. "I have to give credit to him as well, because when he was down, especially in the third set, he didn't give up. He was returning pretty well, really aggressively, no mistakes, or almost no mistakes."
Lehecka's win earned him a semifinal against British eighth seed Jack Draper on Friday.
"I feel great," said Lehecka. "To win a match like that against a player like this is a super big achievement. I believed in myself and knew I had the level to produce this kind of tennis. I think the most important part was I believed in my game and did not back down."
In a remarkable comeback, Draper secured victory against Berrettini with scores of 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the quarter-final encounter.
Berrettini, who previously reached the Wimbledon final and achieved a career-high ranking of world number six, had earlier eliminated Novak Djokovic in round two.
In another quarterfinal match, Andrey Rublev advanced to the semifinals after a hard-fought victory against Alex de Minaur.
The Russian, who claimed the Qatar title in 2020, prevailed over his Australian opponent with scores of 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (10/8).
Despite holding a commanding 5-2 advantage in the deciding set, fifth seed Rublev faced resistance as De Minaur fought back to force a tiebreak.
Rublev has earned a spot in his fourth Qatar semifinal, where he will face Felix Auger-Aliassime, who advanced when his quarterfinal opponent Daniil Medvedev withdrew while trailing 6-3.
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