Jack Draper crashed out at the penultimate hurdle as he was denied a first home final by Jiri Lehecka at Queen’s Club.
The tricky Czech, who arrived in west London unseeded and world no30, beat the British no1 in three sets - 6-4 4-6 7-5 on the Andy Murray Arena.
Lehecka wrote “A great match - battle” on the camera lens as he celebrated his victory, and a battle it was, with both men finding serious power off both wings in the blistering heat in the capital.
In a match that lasted two hours and nine minutes, it was Lehecka who placed himself in the ascendancy immediately, breaking Draper in the opening game to set the standards for what would be a superb afternoon of top-quality tennis from two of the best young players on the men’s tour at present.
Draper was unable to overcome Lehecka’s break-advantage in the first, with the Czech always up as the pair traded service holds - some nervier than others - as the partisan British crowd roared on their home favourite.
Neither player faced a break point after Lehecka’s initial breach of the Draper delivery in the opening game, and Lehecka converted his first set point to snare first blood.
Draper came back strongly in the second, swinging the pendulum in his favour, buoyed by the support.
He squandered four break-point opportunities in the fourth game of the second, before he was on the back foot in the following game, having to fend off two break points against.
At the very end of the second, he finally made one count, having spurned another one as Lehecka levelled for 3-3.
At one set apiece, it was now a case of who would have more left in the tank. Who could outhit the other, and whose serve would stay strong, and who would hold up in the heat?
The pair continued to cancel each other out with relatively comfortable holds as the decider wore on, with the first break point coming on the Draper serve as the Briton served to take a 5-4 lead.
A love-hold in the following game for Lehecka gave him the upward trajectory, racing into a 0-30 and then 15-40 lead in what would prove to be the penultimate game, as he stepped inside the baseline to go after Draper’s service.
Draper was given two code violations in his final service game - the first for taking longer than the regulated 25 seconds between deliveries - before Lehecka dispatched a superb passing forehand winner to tee up two break points - and the second after he had conceded the break, with the Czech ripping a backhand into the corner, causing the second seed to smash his racquet into the advertising hoardings in frustration.
That frustration would cost him, making critical unforced errors in the final game with forehands and backhands flying long, as Lehecka roared into the London sky to book his place in Sunday’s showpiece against Carlos Alcaraz, who beat Roberto Bautista Agut 6-1 6-4 in the other semi-final.
