LONDON — High seed Carlos Alcaraz edged Czech Jiri Lehecka 7-5, 6-7 (5), 6-2 on Sunday to assert his second Queen’s Membership title and ship out a robust assertion forward of his Wimbledon protection.
Alcaraz, who triumphed at Queen’s Membership a couple of weeks earlier than claiming his first Wimbledon title in 2023, prolonged his profitable streak to 18 matches however was pushed exhausting by the highly effective Lehecka, who underlined his personal credentials as a rising pressure.
Alcaraz, 22, pounced at 5-5 to interrupt Lehecka’s serve en path to bagging the opening set in 45 minutes.
The 23-year-old Lehecka, bidding to develop into the primary Czech to win the Queen’s Membership title since Ivan Lendl in 1990, continued going toe-to-toe with the five-time Grand Slam champion and received the second set tiebreaker with some medical tennis.
Alcaraz cast forward 4-1 within the deciding set, nevertheless, as Lehecka’s stage lastly started to drop. He then once more broke Lehecka’s serve to finish the win, letting out a roar of enjoyment as Lehecka struck a backhand into the online.
Alcaraz didn’t face a single break level and slammed down 18 aces on his strategy to a twenty first profession title.
Wimbledon begins June 30.
Reuters and The Related Press contributed to this report.