PARIS (Reuters) -Jiri Lehecka may have been thrashed 6-0 6-1 6-2 by top seed Jannik Sinner at the French Open but the Czech player said he was more than happy to take a few games off the world number one who has been in sublime form at Roland Garros. Sinner needed a little over 90 […]
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Tennis-Lehecka more than happy to win three games against red-hot Sinner
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PARIS (Reuters) -Jiri Lehecka may have been thrashed 6-0 6-1 6-2 by top seed Jannik Sinner at the French Open but the Czech player said he was more than happy to take a few games off the world number one who has been in sublime form at Roland Garros.
Sinner needed a little over 90 minutes to dismantle Lehecka’s ambitions of a third-round upset on Saturday, losing only nine points on serve and reeling off 11 straight games before his opponent even got on the board.
Lehecka raised his fist in celebration amid cheers from the crowd at Court Suzanne-Lenglen when he finally won a game but the 23-year-old — ranked 34th in the world — knew he was beaten by a player in a different league.
“Everyone who could see what was happening today, I was very happy that I won at least one game because of the way how Jannik played, the way he approached the game and how he was killing me in basically everything,” Lehecka told reporters.
“These three games were a big success for me today. It is how it is, I don’t really think that I would have done something differently… He just played an incredible match.
“The crowd was amazing, it was kind of funny that they were cheering for me like that. I just got my ass kicked today, he was better in everything.”
Sinner, yet to drop a set in the tournament, will face Andrey Rublev in the fourth round.
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru;, editing by Ed Osmond)