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Former world No 1 Andy Murray said he pulled off "one of the most amazing turnarounds" of his career against Jiri Lehecka in Doha. In the Doha semifinal, Murray saved five match points to edge out 21-year-old Lehecka 6-0 3-6 7-6 (8).
“That was, yeah, one of the most amazing turnarounds I’ve had in my career. He had the three match points at 5-4, but I also think when I was serving at 5-3, and yeah, I don’t know! I knew it was his first time serving for a final so I knew I had to try and keep the pressure on at the end because I know how difficult it is to serve matches like that out.
I’ve no idea how I managed to turn that one round, to be honest," Murray said after the match, per Tennis Majors.
How Murray defeated Lehecka?
Murray came out firing against Lehecka, breaking the Czech three times in the first set to easily win the opener.
After not winning a single game in the first set, Lehecka started the second set with a 3-0 lead. In the seventh game, Murray had a chance to get the break back but Lehecka saved two break points to open a 5-2 lead. Two games later, Lehecka served out for the second set and sent the match into a decider.
Lehecka then earned the first break of the third set in the third game but Murray broke back immediately in the following game. After blowing an early third-set break, Lehecka broke Murray again in the fifth game. Down 5-3 in the third set, Murray saved two match points on his serve to cut the deficit to 5-4.
In the 10th game, Murray saved three consecutive match points on Lehecka's serve as the Briton got the break back and managed to force a tie-break. In the third-set tie-break, Murray missed out on his first match point but converted his second match point to seal a thriller win over Lehecka. In the Doha final, Murray plays either Daniil Medvedev or Felix Auger-Aliassime.