Match Report
Lehecka foils home hope Fritz with third-set Miami masterclass
Czech will play #NextGenATP Spaniard Martin Landaluce in QFs
March 24, 2026
Matthew Stockman/Getty Images
Jiri Lehecka in action against Taylor Fritz on Tuesday in Miami.
By Andy West
Jiri Lehecka delivered a stunning finish to crash the home party on Tuesday afternoon at the Miami Open presented by Itau.
Taking on No. 1 American Taylor Fritz at the ATP Masters 1000 event, the 21st-seeded Czech prevailed 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-2 to book his quarter-final spot. Lehecka bounced back superbly from the disappointment of losing the second-set tie-break, producing an overall Performance Rating of 9.53 in the third set (up from 6.98 in the second set and well above the Tour average of 7.29), according to TDI Insights.
Ice in his veins 🧊@jirilehecka resets to knock out No. 6 seed Fritz and reach his third Masters 1000 quarter-final! @MiamiOpen | #MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/ATFgxhHI9J
— ATP Tour (@atptour) March 24, 2026
“I think that for me the goal was to stay aggressive,” said Lehecka, who red-lined his way to five of the final six games of the match. “I thought in the second set, I kind of stepped back a little bit. In the end, I just felt that in the third set, if I wanted to beat a guy like Taylor, I just needed to go for it and be aggressive. I needed to show the courage that I wanted to win the point. That’s what I tried to do, and it worked well.”
With his two-hour, 20-minute victory inside Hard Rock Stadium, Lehecka became just the third Czech to reach the quarter-finals at both ‘Sunshine Double’ events (Indian Wells and Miami) after former Top 10 stars Petr Korda and Tomas Berdych. In his first Masters 1000 quarter-final since the 2024 Mutua Madrid Open, he will take on Martin Landaluce. The #NextGenATP Spaniard earlier downed Sebastian Korda 2-6, 7-6(6), 6-4.
“I’m very happy with it. I always felt that I needed to make one more step to go far at a Masters 1000 since Madrid,” said Lehecka after reaching the last eight. “It’s great to be back in Miami. It’s great to play well. I was not feeling good in Indian Wells, so I worked pretty hard in the first week here in Miami, during the practice week, to come back and find my game again. I’m very happy that I did that.
“I’m very happy to win three matches in a row, and the third one against a player like Taylor. Top 10 guy, he’s super experienced. He has played so many matches like this, so for me it’s very good.”
Lehecka has risen four spots to No. 18 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings as a result of his run in Miami so far. After earning his first Top 10 win of 2026 against World No. 7 Fritz, the 24-year-old Czech has also improved to 2-4 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with the American.
