After moving to the Madrid Open semi-final due to an opponent's injury, Jiri Lehecka suffered the same fate, sending Felix Auger-Aliassime into the final with a retirement.
Quite a few bizarre things happened at the Madrid Open in the past few days. Two retirements and a withdrawal impacted the paths of both of these players. Lehecka moved into the Madrid Open semi-final thanks to Daniil Medvedev's retirement in the quarter-final.
The Russian experienced groin issues after losing the first set and retired from the match. One day later, Lehecka also retired, as he started to experience issues pretty quickly into the match.
He took an off-court medical timeout but realized quickly upon returning that it wasn't going to go. He played a few points but spasmed mid-point to drop down to his knee and opted to retire.
He was clearly shattered by this because he destroyed his racquet after shaking hands with Auger-Aliassime, showing how much the match meant to him. This was a chance for him to make his maiden ATP Masters 1000 final because he had been playing really well so far.
He bested Nadal just a few days ago and certainly looked confident in his game. When it comes to Auger-Aliassime, well, the last time he played was in the fourth round against Casper Ruud.
He won that match comfortably but then moved into the semi-final after Jannik Sinner withdrew before their match. Now he moved into the final after another player was prevented from playing against him.
It's a pretty odd sequence of events for the Canadian, who might be hindered by not having a competitive match a couple of days before the Madrid Open final, but he certainly won't mind playing in the final, in which he'll take on Andrey Rublev, who bested Taylor Fritz.
0 Comments