Shapovalov Races Past Lehecka into First Final Since 2022 in Belgrade

Denis Shapovalov is playing his best tennis to close out the 2024 season. The Canadian easily defeated Jiri Lehecka on Friday in the Belgrade semifinals to reach his first final in over two years, his seventh overall on the ATP Tour. 

After a first-round battle in Belgrade, Shapovalov has been dialled in from the second round onwards and found yet another gear in the semis, overpowering and outmanoeuvring his Czech opponent. He broke early in both sets, cruising to a 6-2, 6-1 win. 

It was an utterly dominant performance from Shapovalov, who lost just six points on serve, only one on his first serve. He never faced a break point in the match while creating 11 chances on the big Czech’s serve, converting four. 

As he had in his previous two matches, Shapovalov came out swinging and attacked his opponent’s first serve game. Lehecka was a little slow off the mark and back-to-back unforced errors gave the Canadian a love-40 opening. Though he saved the first two break points, a backhand long on the third gave Shapovalov a quick 2-0 advantage. 

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The early break put the wind into the Canadian’s sails. He was in full flow throughout the opening set, covering the court brilliantly and turning defence into offence in the blink of an eye, denying Lehecka any opportunity to dictate with his big hitting. 

Shapovalov had four chances to make it a double-break lead in the sixth game, but Lehecka was able to save them all and hold. However, he was not getting any chances on the Canadian’s serve and when he served to stay in the set at 2-5, the Czech fell behind love-40 and Shapovalov ripped a forehand passing shot winner to wrap up the set with a break to love. 

A hold to love to start the second set marked 12 consecutive points won by the Canadian. Even though Lehecka ended the run on his first service point of the set, he could not break Shapovalov’s dominance. In that same game, the Czech could not handle a powerful backhand passing shot from the Canadian, setting up a break point where Shapovalov ripped a big return that was too much for Lehecka to handle, once again breaking at the first opportunity for a 2-0 lead in the second. 

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There was no let up from the Canadian. He lost just two points on serve in the second set, holding to love three times, and added a second break, this time to love to go up 4-0. That was more than enough cushion as he rode his serve the rest of the way, wrapping up the win in just 56 minutes. 

Shapovalov will be contesting his first final since Vienna in October 2022 on Saturday. He is looking to win his second career ATP Tour title when he takes on either Laslo Djere or Hamad Medjedovic. The Canadian leads his head-to-head with Djere 2-0 but has never played Medjedovic.