Czech Jiri Lehecka71° from ATP and revelation of this edition, surpassed the Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime (7th) by 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (2) and 7-6 (3) in three hours and 14 minutes to reach the quarterfinals of the australian open for the first time in his career.

“It’s honestly amazing. It’s hard to find words to describe how I came from last year to Australia. If someone had told me that, I wouldn’t have believed them,” said he declared after a victory that made him climb 32 places, to 39th position on the ATP list.

The Czech, who couldn’t beat any game in the first round of the ‘major’ competition last season, will face the Greek in the next round Stefanos Tsitsipas (4th), who eliminated the Italian Jannik Sinner (16th) in five sets (6-4, 6-4, 3-6 4-6 and 6-3).

“All the guys I’ve beaten here, they’re all amazing players, so I have to play my best tennis,” he said after beating Croatian Borna Coric (23rd) and Britain’s Cameron Norrie (12th). ) in previous rounds.°) .

His first victory in the final draw of the ATP competition came in February last year, when he beat Canadian Denis Shapovalov in the first round in Rotterdam and reached the semi-finals.

Jiri Lehecka was unimpressed with the resolution of a first set that fell to the Canadian side and combined both his power from the baseline and his finesse with the volleys after scoring 80% of the points that ended in the net.

Now he could get revenge for his Rotterdam semi-final loss to Tsitsipas.

JOY FOR JIRI 🙌

Before that #AusOpen, @jirilehecka had never won a Grand Slam main draw match.

Now the world number 71 is in the #AO2023 quarter-finals! 👏@wwos • @espn • @Eurosport • @wowowtennis pic.twitter.com/CLXZQO7ZfF

— #AusOpen (@AusOpen) January 22, 2023