Miomir Kecmanovic and Jiri Lehecka will be squaring off for the first time in their careers when they battle for a semifinal spot at the inaugural Skrpska Open on Friday afternoon.
It should be a good one with the two players separated by just three spots in the rankings (Kecmanovic is 33rd; Lehecka is 36th). Both are in strong form this season, too. Lehecka has already picked up 18 main-tour wins in 2023, while Kecmanovic has found the winners’ circle 13 times and his current clay-court swing already includes a runner-up performance in Estoril.
A slight edge probably goes to Kecmanovic for a few reasons. One, he has raised his level of late whereas Lehecka has cooled off just a bit since a scorching-hot start to the 2023 campaign. Two, this is basically a home match for the Serb in Banja Luka. Finally, Kecmanovic has done some of his best work on clay throughout his career and his lone ATP title has come at a 250 event on the dirt (Kitzbuhel in 2020).
Lehecka eased past Gael Monfils and Radu Albot to reach the last eight, but Monfils is a shadow of his former self and Albot has been terrible on clay in recent years (37-50 record dating back to 2017). This will be a much tougher test for the 21-year old Czech–one he may not pass.
Pick: Kecmanovic in 3
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Lehecka in 3.