Queen’s Club SF previews and predictions: Alcaraz vs. Bautista Agut, Draper vs. Lehecka

Top two seeds Carlos Alcaraz and Jack Draper remain on a collision course for the Queen’s Club championship match. The last hurdle is getting past Roberto Bautista Agut and Jiri Lehecka, respectively, on semifinal Saturday.

(1) Carlos Alcaraz vs. Roberto Bautista Agut

It will be an all-Spanish showdown when Alcaraz and Bautista Agut go head-to-head for the third time in their careers in the semifinals of the HSBC Championships on Saturday afternoon. Alcaraz has won both of their previous encounters; 6-2, 6-0 at the 2022 Indian Wells Masters and 6-3, 7-5 on the red clay of Barcelona in 2023. To say that this matchup is an improbable one would be a gross understatement. Roberto Bautista Agut was all but out of the event in round one, trailing Nuno Borges by a set and a break in addition to saving a match point. The 37-year-old has since defeated Jakub Mensik and Holger Rune, also both in three sets.

Alcaraz almost packed his own bags on Thursday but managed to get past Jaume Munar 6-4, 6-7(7), 7-5 in the second round. Unlike Bautista Agut, though, Alcaraz should have plenty left in the tank because his other two matches were straight-setters (6-4, 7-6(4) over Adam Walton and 7-5, 6-4 over Arthur Rinderknech). Even at 100 percent, Bautista Agut would have little chance against the two-time reigning Wimbledon champion. Following another long three-setter and with little recovery time, the world No. 51 faces a very difficult situation.

Pick: Alcaraz in 2

Jiri Lehecka vs. (2) Jack Draper

Draper’s main goal this week is obviously to lift the Queen’s Club trophy for the first time, but a secondary goal en route to that larger objective has already been achieved: securing the No. 4 seed at Wimbledon. With Taylor Fritz’s first-round ouster, Draper required nothing more than a semifinal appearance–and that is exactly what the sixth-ranked Brit clinched by beating Brandon Nakashima 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 on Friday.

Up next for Draper is a fourth meeting with Lehecka, who trails the head-to-head series 2-1. The 30th-ranked Czech prevailed 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 at the 2024 Adelaide tournament before Draper won 7-5, 6-2 later that season at the Paris Masters and 3-6, 7-6(2), 6-3 earlier this year in Doha. Lehecka has advanced with routine victories over Alex de Minaur, Gabriel Diallo, and Jake Fearnley, but he will have to do a lot more than that in order to prove that he is back to his January level. On this surface and with home-court advantage, Draper is simply the superior player.

Pick: Draper in 2