Life 2 Sports
Tennis

Sixth seed Auger-Aliassime stunned by Lehecka

Jan. 22, 2023
Sixth seed Auger-Aliassime stunned by Lehecka

Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime became the sixth men's top-10 seed to exit the Australian Open when he lost to Czech player Jiri Lehecka in round four.

The top two seeds, Rafael Nadal and Casper Ruud, both lost in the second round while two-time finalist Daniil Medvedev was beaten on Friday.

Lehecka will face either third seed Stefanos Tsitsipas or Itay's Jannik Sinner next.

American Sebastian Korda registered another big win at Melbourne Park, beating 10th seed Hubert Hurkacz 3-6 6-3 6-2 1-6 7-6 (10-7).

Korda beat Medvedev in the previous round, while rising star Lehecka ended Cameron Norrie's bid at the same stage.

Lehecka had not won a Grand Slam match before this tournament but is now through to a first major quarter-final.

Auger-Aliassime becomes the final player to fall to the 'Netflix curse', which is supposedly causing players who featured in the recently released series Break Point to bow out of the Australian Open early.

Fellow stars Ruud, Ons Jabeur, Maria Sakkari, Matteo Berrettini, Taylor Fritz and Thanasi Kokkinakis have all lost, while Nick Kyrgios, Paula Badosa and Ajla Tomljanovic had to withdraw before the tournament began.

Korda backed up his win over Medvedev with a tough five-set victory that put him into a Grand Slam quarter-final for the first time.

Afterwards he dedicated his win to his father, Petr, who won the Australian Open in 1998.

Korda has previously joked that he is the worst athlete in his family - his mother Regina Rajchrtova was also a professional tennis player and his sisters Jessica and Nelly are LPGA golfers.

"I just got off the phone with my parents," Korda said. "My dad's birthday is tomorrow - early birthday present in a way."

Korda, who will face Russia's Karen Khachanov in the next round, said he reaches out to the picture of his father and fellow former champion Andre Agassi when he walks out to Rod Laver Arena.

"I always give him like a little fist pump. Kind of makes me feel like they're with me," he added.

"I always know that they're watching. They're both very special for me. They helped me a ton."

Khachanov reached Melbourne quarter-finals for the first time with a comprehensive 6-0 6-7 7-6 (7-4) win over Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka.


Scroll to Top