Carlos Alcaraz regains his Queen's crown after beating Jiri Lehecka in final
Carlos Alcaraz regained his crown as the King of Queen's after beating Jiri Lehecka in the HSBC Championships final.
The Spanish top seed replicated his debut triumph on the grass courts of west London in 2023 with a 7-5 6-7 (5) 6-2 victory.
It was an 18th-straight match win for Alcaraz – in his fifth consecutive final – following his title successes in Rome and at the French Open.
World number 30 Lehecka had knocked out home hope Jack Draper on Saturday to become the first Czech finalist since Ivan Lendl won the title in 1990.
The 23-year-old played his part in a high-quality final with some huge serves and powerful groundstrokes, forcing the match to a decider via a tie-break.
But Alcaraz, the defending Wimbledon champion, did not face a single break point and slammed down 18 aces on his way to a 21st career title, proving he will be the man to beat at SW19 again with a stylish win in two hours and eight minutes.
Alcaraz got a first look at a break point at 2-2, but he barely saw the 138mph ace that snuffed it out.
At 4-5 the 22-year-old was in a spot of bother, serving at 0-30, but with a quick squeeze of the accelerator he reeled off eight of the next 10 points to hold and then grab the crucial break.
Alcaraz had dropped just 10 points on serve before the second-set tie-break but he suddenly dropped his guard, with an untimely double fault and a pair of Lehecka aces taking the match the distance.
But Lehecka dipped in the third with Alcaraz breaking for 3-1, and before long a flashing forehand brought up two championship points, the world number two taking the first and roaring with delight at a second Queen's title.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
33 minutes ago
- BBC News
Notts appoint ex-Burton boss Paterson as head coach
Notts County have appointed former Burton Albion boss Martin Paterson as their new head League Two club have been without a head coach for a month since Stuart Maynard was sacked following their play-off semi-final defeat by AFC Northern Ireland international forward Paterson, 38, had a brief spell in charge of Burton in the second half of the 2023-24 season, helping them narrowly avoid relegation from League director of football Roberto Gagliardi told the club website, external that he was "hugely excited" by Paterson's appointment."In our conversations with him it's been clear that he shares our vision of playing dynamic, progressive football and, as much as the club's DNA will remain the same in terms of our desire to dominate the ball, we believe he may bring more intensity and directness to our play," Gagliardi said. "Martin wants his teams to be extremely hard-working, well-organised and difficult to play against – characteristics which were key to his success at Burton having become their manager in very challenging circumstances."We believe we can provide the environment for Martin to demonstrate his true capabilities as a head coach."Burton were 17th in the table when Paterson took over, following which they won just five times in 20 games - enough to narrowly avoid ended up finishing 20th - one place and two points above the drop zone - although then Brewers owner and chairman Ben Robinson admitted Paterson had taken over "under very difficult circumstances".After beginning his career with home town club Stoke City, former Burnley, Huddersfield Town, Blackpool, Port Vale and Tampa Bay Rowdies striker Paterson worked as a number two in England and the United States, including a stint alongside Phil Neville in appointed by Burton, Robinson said he saw the "same potential" in Paterson that he did in Neil Warnock, Nigel Clough and Gary Rowett - who were all appointed by Albion as up and coming owners Christoffer and Alexander Reedtz said Paterson had "demonstrated immense passion, determination and ambition – underpinned by a fixation on winning" during talks over the Edwards will be Paterson's assistant head coach, with keeper Sam Slocombe extending his stay at Meadow Lane by becoming first-team coach.
Daily Mail
36 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Harry Brook's strokeplay is pure box office... but the hook shot could be his downfall, writes NASSER HUSSAIN
Harry Brook's innings on his home ground of Headingley on Sunday was absolutely box office - a spectacular exhibition of stroke play. Brook is such a positive player, with all the shots, and one of his most profitable over recent years has been to run at seam bowlers. It took people by surprise when he did this to India 's premier bowler Jasprit Bumrah at the start of the morning session and banged the ball away for four. Doing so, not in a chaotic, frenetic way, but in a controlled manner. You have to show intent against whoever you face. You need to put good bowlers under pressure. The issue for Brook, though, and Australia will be watching with their bigger grounds in mind, is the short ball. Teams might try one set of tactics against him first up, but if he gets in what will he do if they bounce him? Is he taking it on? Or not? How would he have been out on the second evening, if Bumrah hadn't reprieved him by overstepping? Hooking. He's got to work out going forward what he is going to do when challenged to play that shot, because there will be more coming. That will be his challenge and if I was a coach, I would be asking: is the shot getting you runs? Is it one of your shots? Is it getting you out? The charge down the pitch isn't resulting in dismissals for him. Ask the same question to the hook shot, though, and it is not as clear cut. Is it getting him runs? Yes. Is it getting him out? Yes. So, there is a risk-reward dilemma. As a batsman, are you going to put the shot away? Continue playing it? What are you going to do? Brook will know it's going to come now in this series, and that it will come in Australia. Previously, he's tried to take that short ball on and hit it for six, but because he was on 99, I think he tried to almost keep it down. He may have been walking off wishing he'd tried to hit it all the way. As a batsman you must have a plan. On the bigger grounds in Australia later this year, it will be high risk, and risk factor is something you are always weighing up. As my old Essex captain Keith Fletcher once said to me, if you don't play any shots, you don't get any runs. Virtually every cricket shot has some kind of risk element. You can't put them all away. And the beauty of a five-match Test series is that patterns develop. Get out in a certain fashion and your opponents will try to repeat it. In response, you've got to try to put it to bed somehow and the only way to do that is to work hard, think about your own game, and find the balance that's right for you. Take Jamie Smith here. If he hits the ball out of the ground, everyone goes 'wow.' But when there are four men out there, you find one. So, as we go through the series, we're going to see that ploy to him quite a bit, I would imagine. There were three soft dismissals in England's innings: Joe Root, Ollie Pope and Ben Stokes all edging outside off stump. That is why Stokes chucked his bat up in the air: he was cross with himself. Stokes had actually been lining up very well. I liked his triggers, and it looked like he'd gone back to his old 2019 movements: composed, right in behind the ball, and then from nowhere, he just feathered one behind. He now knows that Mohammad Siraj and Bumrah will be coming around the wicket to him, trying to get the ball going away, with a full slip cordon over these next few matches.
Leader Live
43 minutes ago
- Leader Live
Carlos Alcaraz had ‘no expectations' ahead of tennis grass season
The Spanish top seed regained his crown as the King of Queen's Club and replicated his debut triumph of two years ago with a 7-5 6-7 (5) 6-2 victory. Alcaraz lifted the trophy just a fortnight after his epic five-set victory over Jannik Sinner in the final of the French Open. keep smiling @carlosalcaraz 🙌@QueensTennis | #HSBCChampionships — ATP Tour (@atptour) June 22, 2025 The 22-year-old made the tight turnaround from clay to grass look simple, even though he took time out for a holiday in Ibiza before heading to London. 'It's really complicated, the switch from clay to grass in just few days, because that's the time I had before the tournament began,' he said. 'Just two days of practising and then I had to compete here. So I came here with no expectations at all. 'I just came here with a goal to play two, three matches, try to feel great on grass moving, and, you know, give myself the feedback of what I have to improve, what I have to do better. 'So what I'm more proud about this week is th e way that I have been improving every day. You know, since the first day until today, I think I'm a different player on grass. I just got used to it really quick.' It was an 18th-straight match win for Alcaraz – in his fifth consecutive final – following his title successes in Rome and Roland Garros. World number 30 Lehecka had knocked out home hope Jack Draper on Saturday to become the first Czech finalist since Ivan Lendl won the title in 1990. The 23-year-old played his part in a high-quality final with some huge serves and powerful groundstrokes, forcing the match to a decider via a tie-break. But Alcaraz did not face a single break point and slammed down 18 aces on his way to a 21st career title, proving he will be the man to beat at SW19 again with a stylish win in two hours and eight minutes. There will be no trip to the party island to celebrate this one, though. 'I wish,' he smiled. 'I'm a player who needs days off, days to enjoy, days for myself to spend with my friends, with my family, just to turn off my mind. I need that, and the good thing is that I know that. 'The days in Ibiza helped me a lot, just to feel like I'm not a tennis player, just to enjoy life a little bit with my friends, have fun, enjoy those days, and then come back to the court with more energy, I mean, be more hungry to play again. 'So that was really helpful for me. I'm not going to say that I won the tournament because of Ibiza, but, after this tournament, I can't go back home. I'm going to stay here in London, hopefully enjoy London a little bit. 'I'm going to have my days off to rest up, to enjoy, and then be back and preparing Wimbledon the best way possible.'
