Jiri Lehecka has reached his maiden ATP Masters 1000 final with a two-set win over Arthur Fils at the Miami Open and with it, he set a new record and secured a new career-high in the rankings.

The Czech star’s previous best run at a Masters 1000 tournament was in 2024 when he made it to the semi-final of the Madrid Open, but then had to retire from his match against Felix Auger-Aliassime due to injury.

Two years later, Lehecka finds himself in the showpiece match in Florida after defeating Fils 6-2, 6-2 in 75 minutes

“Of course I’m very excited that I’m in a final. It was definitely one of my goals,” the 22nd seed said. “At the same time, I know that it is just a sport.

“There are more important things going on in the world right now, so that’s definitely something I’m trying to remind myself. I’m just trying to do what I do best, and I definitely enjoy being on a court like this. So I’m trying to live in the present and we will see how it goes on Sunday.”

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The 24-year-old – who has won two ATP 250 titles – once again completed the match without being broken, becoming the first player since Novak Djokovic in 2018 to reach an ATP 1000 final without dropping serve.

Lehecka has held serve 56 times during his five matches in Miami, although he did drop one set against sixth seed Taylor Fritz in the fourth round, but that was via a tie-breaker.

Back in 1995, the great Pete Sampras held serve 49 times at the Canadian Open while in 2018 Roger Federer notched 43 at the Cincinnati Open.

ATP Rankings Boost

Lehecka started the Miami Open at No 22 in the rankings, but he has moved up eight places to a new career-high of No 14 in the Live Rankings with his performance in the second leg of the Sunshine Double – two places above his previous high.

He faces the in-form Jannik Sinner in the final with the Italian looking to complete the Sunshine Double following his title run at the Indian Wells Open a fortnight ago.

Victory over the four-time Grand Slam winner will see him jump to No 12.

“It feels great. It’s definitely something I’ve been working towards the whole year and the whole pre-season,” he said about his brilliant form.

“I really trusted my game and the work I put in. It didn’t matter when, but I knew it would come and today was a nice example of how I want to play. I executed it well, so I’m very happy with today’s performance.”