Jack Draper’s hopes of winning Queen’s were ended by Jiri Lehecka when the British number one was beaten in a thrilling semi-final.
The 23-year-old had battled back from losing the first set to take the second and then went toe-to-toe with his Czech opponent in the third.
But Lehecka got a crucial break at 5-5, prompting Draper to smash his racquet into the advertising hoardings as he knew just how damaging that was to his dream of reaching the final.
And so it proved as Lehecka served to seal a 6-4 4-6 7-5 win in west London to advance to Sunday’s final, where he will face either top seed Carlos Alcaraz or Roberto Bautista Agut.
Draper had often started slowly at this tournament before getting into his groove and winning but in this instance he found Lehecka had too much for him.
He was broken in the opening game when a double fault gave Lehacka an early boost and the Czech used his big serve well to close out the first set.
Draper’s failure to take advantage of having four break points in the fourth game of the second set looked like being pivotal, but he dug deep to stay in the match before breaking Lehecka for the first time at 5-4 up to take things to a decider.
From then on there was little to separate the two but the decisive moment came in the 11th game when Lehecka got the break and closed out the match to progress to his fifth ATP Tour final and ensure that the wait continues for a first British singles champion since five-time winner Andy Murray’s most recent victory in 2016.
