Jiri Lehecka earned the biggest win of his season Friday when he moved past Swiss lefty Dominic Stricker 4-1, 4-3(4), 2-4, 4-1 to reach the championship match at the Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan.

The 21-year-old, who went 2-1 during the round-robin stage, produced a stunning shotmaking display at the Allianz Cloud, timing his groundstrokes perfectly to pull Stricker around.

“Today I think everything went the way I wanted,” Lehecka said. “Me and my team spoke about this match yesterday and today and the plan was just to relax on the court and enjoy it as much as I can. Dominic was playing incredible here, so I am very happy with my win.”

The Czech fired 21 winners and stepped inside the baseline at every opportunity, closing the net effectively to efficiently win points throughout the 82-minute clash. With the in-match coaching rule in place, Lehecka was in frequent contact with Michal Navratil, who helped guide his charge to victory.

Lehecka will face third-seeded Briton Jack Draper or fourth-seeded American Brandon Nakashima in the final on Saturday evening. The fifth seed played Nakashima during the round-robin stage, falling in straight sets.

The Czech started the season at No. 141 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. However, he competes in Milan at No. 74 following a breakthrough year that saw him reach the semi-finals in Rotterdam and lift an ATP Challenger Tour trophy in Liberec.

Stricker has earned five Top 40 wins this season, including a victory against World No. 23 Lorenzo Musetti in Milan. The 20-year-old, who won two ATP Challenger Tour titles this year, soared through the Red Group, holding a perfect 3-0 record.

Casper Ruud knew he had his work cut out for him this season. After making his Nitto ATP Finals debut to cap a breakout 2021 campaign, he was prepared for an ever bigger challenge as he fought to solidify his place among the game’s elite.

The Norwegian delivered in a big way, surpassing even his own expectations as he comfortable booked a return trip to Turin. After finishing last season at No. 8 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, he rose as high as World No. 2 this year after winning three titles and reaching the final at Miami, Roland Garros and the US Open.

“People say sometimes that it can be tougher to stay in the Top 10 or Top 5 than to reach it [the first time] because now you have all these other players sort of chasing you and coming from behind and wanting to kick you out and replace you,” Ruud said on media day in Turin, speaking with ATP Media. “It’s a challenge, but I was able to do well enough to be here again this year and I’m very happy about that.”

While Rune enjoyed strong support from his player box last year in Italy — “I think every seat in the box was taken by family and my team,” he said — his entourage will include two new guests this year: his grandmothers.

“They don’t come to too much,” Ruud said of the VIPs. “Sometimes they are a little bit frustrated with me that I don’t invite them too often. They are great, but as all grandmothers, they can maybe be a bit too much at times,” he added with a smile. “But of course I love them and it’s nice for them to be here for the first time.”

With his caring family in tow, the 2021 Turin semi-finalist has enjoyed being back in familiar surroundings at the Pala Alpitour, where each player has the luxury of his own locker room with their picture on the door and adorning the walls inside. Unlike last year, Ruud sealed his qualification for Turin with time to spare thanks to his stellar season.

“It’s much more comfortable knowing that you’re qualified for some time. Last year it was so stressful,” he said, reflecting on the down-to-the-wire race between himself, Hubert Hurkacz, Jannik Sinner and Cameron Norrie. In the end, all four competed in Turin — Ruud and Hurkacz as direct qualifiers, Sinner and Norrie as alternates. But the experience left Ruud hungry to sew up his place early this year, and the Norwegian succeeded in that quest, clinching qualification in late September with a win in Seoul.

“You think about it when you start the year,” he said of the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin. “The first match of the year, you’re thinking, ‘I want to have a good year’, because you know that in November there will be the Nitto ATP Finals, and you hope you can reach it. To be able to do it again this year, for a second time, is very special.

“I knew that this year was going to be an important and challenging one for me because the first time you reach the Top 10, or the fist year you reach this tournament, you know that the next year you will have to defend everything that you have done.”

After a gruelling season in which he played 22 tournaments and recorded 48 wins, will Ruud have enough left in the tank to make a deep run in Turin?

“Let’s see. I do hope so,” said the 23-year-old. “It’s going to be a tough one. You’re sort of trying to trick yourself that it’s not the last one.

“This is such a great place, great city to play in. The Italian fans are so passionate that you will feel the energy from the moment you step on court, which hopefully can lift you a little bit, no mater who you are or who you are playing… They really know what they’re doing here in Italy when it comes to the sport of tennis and that’s a great feeling for us.”

When Felix Auger-Aliassime arrived at the Pala Alpitour for his debut performance at the Nitto ATP Finals, the 22-year-old relished seeing his name among the season’s best eight players and reminisced on childhood memories as he located his locker.

“That’s a twist that’s special here,” Auger-Aliassime said. “Having your personal locker, your face on the door. I remember seeing behind the scenes videos of it growing up and I thought, ‘How cool is that!’ to have a personal locker. And here I am. When I got on site, it was the first thing I went for.

“I remember watching [the Nitto ATP Finals] for the first time in my early teenage years. I remember just being inspired by it and feeling that it would be amazing to be a part of that. Now that I’m here, it’s a full circle moment. It’s really special and I hope it’s not the last time.”

While the World No. 6 has achieved a lifelong dream, he is hungry for more. Felix, who is the youngest player in this year’s field, boasts a 56-25 match record this year. Only two men have collected more victories this season: Stefanos Tsitsipas (60) and Carlos Alcaraz (57). With the chance to close out the year with the most wins, Felix comes into the season final’s event with deep confidence.

On indoor hard courts, Felix has racked up a season-leading 27 wins and has collected each of his four titles (Rotterdam, Florence, Antwerp, Basel). In the latter part of the season, Felix went on a career-best 16 match-winning streak, including three straight titles, to help him seal a spot at the season finale in Turin.

“It’s one thing to believe in your process and in your work but it’s another to actually step up to the challenge,” Auger-Aliassime said. “I was kind of backed up against the wall to qualify after the US Open, there were some other guys who were big contenders. To go on a run like I did, at that moment, for me it showed a lot of character and mental strength to push through and make the best effort I can to qualify here.”

Felix, who is just the second Canadian (Raonic ‘14, ‘16) to play the Nitto ATP Finals in its 53-year history, will first look to avenge his Montreal loss to Casper Ruud, who upset him 6-1, 6-2 at his home tournament in August.

“That was a tough memory,” Auger-Aliassime said. “I lost pretty badly in front of my fans in my hometown. It was one of those days where you just want to leave the court at some point because nothing is working, you lose hope. I’m looking forward to the rematch and hopefully a very different scenario. I’m sure it’s going to be a hard-fought match but I believe in my chances to win.”

Felix is set to compete in the Green Group alongside Ruud, Taylor Fritz, and Rafael Nadal. The Nitto ATP Finals, which features the world’s best eight players, runs from 13-20 November.

The eight 2022 Nitto ATP Finals singles competitors gathered on Friday at Turin’s Gallerie d’Italia, an art gallery located on the city’s renowned Piazza San Carlo, for the season finale’s official group photo. 

Rafael Nadal, Casper Ruud, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Taylor Fritz will compete in Green Group, with Stefanos Tsitsipas, Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev and Novak Djokovic drawn together in Red Group for the round-robin stage. Play begins on Sunday, when Ruud takes on Auger-Aliassime and Nadal meets Fritz.

The photoshoot was part of media day for the prestigious season finale. The players also spoke to local and international media ahead of next week’s action at the Pala Alpitour, Italy’s largest indoor arena. 

Nadal and Tsitsipas will try to capture year-end No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings from Carlos Alcaraz, while Djokovic seeks a record-tying sixth Nitto ATP Finals trophy. 

Singles and doubles stars at this year’s Nitto ATP Finals came together Thursday night at Nuvola Lavazza in Turin for the official tournament gala dinner. Former champions Novak Djokovic, Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas joined fellow 2022 qualifiers Rafael Nadal, Casper Ruud, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Andrey Rublev and Taylor Fritz to meet with VIPs and tournament partners. The game’s best eight doubles teams were also on hand for the evening.

The players will come together again on Friday for the official group portrait and other media commitments. The tournament begins Sunday 13 November and runs through 20 November, when the champion of champions will be crowned.

Nadal and Tsitsipas both have a chance to finish the year as No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, with current No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz forced to withdraw from the event through injury.

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Photos: Corinne Dubreuil/ATP Tour

After three days of group play at the Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals, the semi-finals are set for Friday in Milan.

Group winners Brandon Nakashima and Dominic Stricker will both look to take their strong form into the knockout rounds after finishing the round-robin stage with perfect 3-0 records. The American will face Jack Draper in a Top 50 showdown while Stricker meets Jiri Lehecka, with both second-place finishers securing their progress with wins on Thursday.

We look ahead with previews of both marquee matchups at the Allianz Cloud.

[4] Brandon Nakashima (USA) vs. [3] Jack Draper (GBR)

One of two returning players in Milan, along with Lorenzo Musetti, Nakashima has matched his 2021 result at the 21-and-under event by reaching the semis. Set to age out of the competition next season, the experienced American has attacked this year’s event with great purpose. He enters his meeting with Draper on the heels of seven consecutive sets won; after a five-set victory against Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi in his opening match, he scored straight-sets wins against Lehecka and Francesco Passaro to seal his place atop the Green Group.

The fourth seed improved with each round-robin match and used a dominant serving performance to ease past Passaro on Thursday, 4-3(4), 4-2, 4-1, saving the only break point against him. Nakashima’s dominance on his own delivery is demonstrated by his 8.6 Serve Quality score, a metric which uses a variety of statistical inputs to measure a shot’s effectiveness on a 10-point scale.

“I thought my level was really high today,” Nakashima said after defeating Passaro. “It was nice to see it carrying over from yesterday. To come out and play like that was super special.”

While Nakashima needed to win only one set against the Italian to guarantee progress to the knockout rounds, Draper faced a win-or-go-home matchup against home favourite Musetti on Thursday evening. The Briton played his best match of the week in a 4-1, 4-0, 4-3(3) win to deny the Italian an extended run in front of the Milan crowd.

“I like crowds, if they are with me or not,” Draper said after the victory. “This is what I have wanted to do since when I was younger. I wanted to entertain people. This is why I train every day.”

He’ll hope to enjoy more support as he seeks to hand Nakashima his first loss of the week.

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Draper did not face a break point against Musetti and will aim to use his serve and powerful ground game to pin the American back on the slick hard courts. But Nakashima’s game is also based on aggression, with the American hitting his way to his first ATP Tour title earlier this season in his home city of San Diego. 

Expect a heavy dose of first-strike tennis as both men seek their first title in Milan. If their Pepperstone ATP Rankings are any indication, this one could go down to the wire: Nakashima is the World No. 49, while Draper sits at a career-high No. 41.

[7] Dominic Stricker (SUI) vs. [5] Jiri Lehecka (CZE)

Stricker did not just survive the loaded Red Group — he thrived by earning victories against the two highest-ranked players in the Milan field. But the Swiss’ wins did not come easily against Draper and World No. 23 Musetti.

In an all-lefty battle, he edged Draper in three tie-breaks despite a one-for-seven mark on break points. Stricker followed that up with a historic 4-3(5), 4-3(6), 3-4(7), 3-4(6), 4-3(3) win against Musetti in which he fired a tournament-record 20 aces. The late-night thriller is the only match in the history of the event to feature five tie-breaks.

With one eye on the semi-finals, his status as group winner secured after Day 2, Stricker completed his perfect group campaign with a dominant victory against Chun-Hsin Tseng on Thursday — no tie-breaks needed.

“It was not easy for me to come out here and play my best again because mentally, of course you’re already thinking a bit more of tomorrow, of the semis,” Stricker said post-match. “But I think handled it very well, I played a great match and I’m super happy with my performance. Now I can think all about tomorrow.”

Lehecka secured his semi-final place with a straight-sets win against Arnaldi on Thursday. He beat two Italians to advance, earning an opening win against Passaro on Tuesday, also in three sets.

“When I came here, my goal was to qualify for the semi-finals and then anything can happen,” the Czech said after advancing to the knockout rounds. “I am looking forward to tomorrow.”

The 21-year-old can draw from his experience of reaching the semis in Rotterdam, where he came through qualifying to make a shock run at the ATP 500 event, claiming his first tour-level wins in the process. While he lost to 2019 Milan champ Stefanos Tsitsipas in that semi-final, Lehecka is now two wins away from matching the Greek’s feat at the Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals.