DOHA: World number three Carlos Alcaraz was left ruing a mistake that let Jiri Lehecka off the hook in the third set and allowed the Czech to fight back and claim a 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 victory in the Qatar Open quarterfinals on Thursday.
Four-time Grand Slam winner Alcaraz led 4-2 in the deciding set and was 40-30 up on Lehecka’s serve when the top seed hit the net on a return to give his unseeded opponent the chance to hold.
Lehecka went on to win every remaining game and clinch his first victory over a top-three player.
“It was about one point. I think that’s what makes tennis really difficult. One point makes a difference,” Spaniard Alcaraz told reporters after his second loss of the year.
“At 4-2 break point, it was just a few centimetres down in the net, so it could turn the match completely. But then 4-3, he started playing great tennis. Probably I could have done a bit better from 4-3, but his game was incredible. He was returning pretty well, really aggressively, no mistakes, or almost no mistakes, so that’s what I have to learn.”
