Next Gen FInals a Milano, Lehecka in finale. Ora Nakashima-Draper

What happened to Stricker? The indomitable lefty who sliced ​​Lorenzo Musetti in the group stage vanished in the first semifinal of the Next Gen Atp Finals in Milan against the Czech Jiri Ledechka who earned a place in the final by beating him 4-1 4-3 2-4 4 -1. Now Lehecka awaits the winner of the next match between Brandon Nakashima and Jack Draper. The American is trained by Fognini’s former coach Franco Davin and treated by Jannik Sinner’s former physiotherapist Claudio Zimaglia and this year has reached 43rd place in the ranking.

Surprise

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The real surprise is the negative one of Stricker whose left-handed blows had made havoc in the Red group, where no one had managed to beat him. Against Lorenzo he had scored 20 aces, setting the record for the tournament yesterday, the serve was ticked, perhaps drained by the physical and nervous energies of the previous days. Performance that made eyes widen compared to the curriculum of the former number 3 in the junior world. He therefore celebrates Jiri Lehecka, 21 year old number 74 in the world (but he was also number 59) who in recent days had beaten both Passaro and Arnaldi in the Green Group. But his experience is certainly superior to the two Italian next gen. Jiri beat Shapovalov at the Rotterdam tournament this year, taking his first career victory at ATP level and even reaching the semifinals before crashing into the solidity of Stefanos Tsitsipas.