Latest news with #HSBCATPtennisChampionships
IOL News
8 hours ago
- Entertainment
- IOL News
Carlos Alcaraz sounds ominous Wimbledon warning with Queens victory
UNSTOPPABLE Spain's Carlos Alcaraz celebrates after winning a point against Czech Republic's Jiri Lehecka during their men's singles final tennis match at the HSBC ATP tennis Championships at Queen's Club in west London on June 22, 2025. Picture: Adrian Dennis / AFP Image: Adrian Dennis / AFP Carlos Alcaraz clinched his second Queen's Club title as the world number two warmed up for Wimbledon with a 7-5, 6-7 (5/7), 6-2 win against Jiri Lehecka in Sunday's final. Alcaraz blasted 33 winners and 18 aces to subdue the gritty Czech world number 30 in two hours and 10 minutes in west London. Having won titles on clay at the French Open, Rome and Monte Carlo, as well as the hard courts of Rotterdam, Alcaraz has now collected five trophies in 2025. The 22-year-old has not lost since the Barcelona final against Holger Rune on April 20 and is enjoying the longest winning streak of his career with 18 successive victories. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Next Stay Close ✕ Carlos Alcaraz's Dominance on Grass Courts: A Rising Legacy Top seeded Alcaraz is just the second Spanish man to win Queen's twice after Feliciano Lopez, who lifted the trophy in 2017 and 2019. For a player raised on the clay courts of Spain, Alcaraz has developed into a formidable force on grass. The former world number one signalled his emergence on the surface by winning Queen's in 2023. He clinched the Wimbledon title for the first time just weeks later and defended his All England Club crown last year. Alcaraz, who has an 11-1 career record at Queen's, will start his bid for a third successive Wimbledon title on June 30. After his semi-final win over Roberto Bautista Agut on Saturday, Alcaraz fired an ominous message to his Wimbledon rivals, warning that his "grass-court mode" had been activated. And on the evidence of his relentless display against the obdurate Lehecka, he is in no mood to surrender his All England Club crown.
Kuwait Times
a day ago
- Sport
- Kuwait Times
Lehecka stuns Draper to reach Queen's final
LONDON: Winner Czech Republic's Jiri Lehecka (left) shakes hands with Britain's Jack Draper at the end of their men's singles semi-final tennis match at the HSBC ATP tennis Championships at Queen's Club in west London on June 21, 2025. — AFP LONDON: Czech world number 30 Jiri Lehecka stunned Britain's Jack Draper to reach the Queen's Club final with a 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 victory on Saturday. Lehecka blasted 36 winners and hit 16 aces to end Draper's bid for a maiden final appearance at the Wimbledon warm-up event in west London. The 23-year-old will face French Open champion Carlos Alcaraz or Spanish veteran Roberto Bautista Agut in Sunday's final. 'It means a lot. You don't meet a player like Jack every day, he's an amazing competitor,' Lehecka said. 'It's not easy to use my serve (on grass) but I've been working on it for the last few weeks. I'm happy with it.' Draper was hoping to become the first British singles champion at Queen's since five-time winner Andy Murray's most recent victory in 2016. After booking his spot in the semi-finals Draper revealed he had held the Queen's trophy as a child around 12 years ago. But Draper, ranked sixth in the world, will have to wait at least another year to get his hands back on the silverware after producing an unusually error-strewn display in sweltering conditions. Lehecka had already ended the hopes of one Briton at Queen's after beating Jacob Fearnley in the quarter-finals on Friday. The 23-year-old also defeated world number 12 Alex de Minaur in his opening match of the tournament, but knocking out Draper was his biggest scalp yet. Draper's careless double-fault gifted Lehecka a break in the opening game of the first set. The ice-cool Lehecka ignored the searing temperatures as he cruised through the rest of the set. Draper needed to apply pressure on Lehecka to get back in the match and he did exactly that in the fourth game of the second set. Even then, Lehecka staved off four break points and repelled another in the sixth. But Draper kept slugging away from the baseline and finally landed a big blow with a winner down the line on set point. Rock legend and avid tennis fan Jon Bon Jovi, watching in the stands, rose from his seat to salute Draper's gritty fightback. Draper had been living on a prayer for two sets and his luck ran out in the 11th game of the deciding set when Lehecka crushed a backhand winner to break. Smashing his racquet into the advertising boards in frustration, Draper couldn't muster a response and Lehecka was soon celebrating his memorable success. — AFP
