The third round of Wimbledon continues on Saturday, and one intriguing matchup features Jiri Lehecka of the Czech Republic versus Tommy Paul of the United States. The reason for the intrigue is the fact that both of these players are on the rise. Lehecka and Paul both had deep runs at the Australian Open in January, and the winner on Saturday could have another deep run in the third major of the year.
The fact that the 37th seeded Lehecka won his second round match on Thursday over the 18th seed Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina should not have been a huge surprise. You could have basically thrown the seeded positions out the window. Even though Cerundolo won the Eastbourne International last week, the Argentinian is a clay court specialist, and most of the top players in the world skipped Eastbourne to take the necessary rest for Wimbledon.
One of those players was in fact Lehecka, who was clearly the fresher player on Thursday. The native of Mlada Boleslav dominated Cerundolo 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 in only one hour and 26 minutes. Lehecka read Cerundolo’s serve very well as he had six breaks of serve, while Cerundolo had none. Lehecka meanwhile only had 16 unforced errors, compared to 26 for Cerundolo.
Quarterfinalist at the Australian Open
Lehecka came away with two stunning performances at the Australian Open, and we saw how legitimate his overall skillset can be. First he beat the 11th seeded Cameron Norrie of Great Britain, the 2022 Wimbledon semifinalist, 6-7, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, in the third round, and then beat the sixth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada, the 2021 United States Open semifinalist, in the quarterfinals, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6, 7-6.
Why Lehecka needs to be considered to beat Paul
Paul deserves to be the favourite in his third round match against Lehecka. He is the 16th seed, and go to the semifinals of the Australian Open. However like Cerundolo, Paul competed last week in Eastbourne, (in fact lost to Cerundolo in the final 6-4, 1-6, 6-4), and one needs to question if he will have enough in the tank and the energy required to beat the 21-year-old rising European star. Do not be surprised if Lehecka beats a seeded player for the second straight time at Wimbledon too, just like he did in Melbourne.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
