The Czech is making his debut in Milan and made a strong first impression at the 21-and-under event, adapting quickly to the first-to-four, best-of-five set format to win after 67 minutes.
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Jiri Lehecka celebrated his 21st birthday in grand style Tuesday at the Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals, defeating Francesco Passaro 4-1, 4-3(7), 4-1 to move to 1-0 in Green Group. The Czech is making his debut in Milan and made a strong first impression at the 21-and-under event, adapting quickly to the first-to-four, best-of-five set format to win after 67 minutes.
“I have never played a match in this format before,” Lehecka said. “In the beginning I was getting used to it a little bit. I think I adapted well. We have used this format in practise and I got used to it pretty fast and it was fun.”
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With his consistent groundstrokes, Lehecka dragged Passaro around the court, hitting 18 winners and breaking serve three times. He also raced through his service games, taking only 15 seconds between points after aces or missed returns. The World No. 74 has had a strong season.
In February, he reached the semi-finals of a qualifier in Rotterdam before winning an ATP Challenger Tour title in August. During the round-robin stage in Milan, Lehecka will also face American Brandon Nakashima and Matteo Arnaldi. On Tuesday evening in Green Group, Nakashima will face Arnaldi. In 2022, Passaro had a 29-15 record on the ATP Challenger Tour and won a trophy in Trieste.
