Lehecka, Draper both chase first title in Adelaide final

Jiri Lehecka continues to build his young love affair with Australia after racing into the final of the Adelaide International Friday.

Producing a returning masterclass, the 22-year-old Czech dismissed Sebastian Korda 6-2, 6-1 in 71 minutes to advance to his second ATP Tour final, following his runner-up finish in Winston-Salem last year.

In Saturday’s final Lehecka will face 22-year-old Brit Jack Draper, who advanced to his second consecutive final after defeating Alexander Bublik 7-6(2), 6-4.

Just 12 months ago Lehecka made his Grand Slam breakthrough at the Australian Open when he reached the quarter-finals at Melbourne Park. In his first visit to Adelaide he took out second seed Nicolas Jarry in the third round and now third seed Korda in the semis.

"I love this country. It's so nice to start the year here," Lehecka said. "I'm enjoying every minute of my first time in Adelaide and you can see that on the court."

Adopting a deep returning stance against Korda, Lehecka won 45 per cent of points on his opponent's first serve and 61 per cent on the American's second serve. Last year Korda held a championship point in a cracking final of Adelaide-1 against Novak Djokovic in the first week of the season.

"I was a bit surprised it went this well but I did everything I could to make it happen," Lehecka said of the lopsided win.

Later in the day Draper underpinned his upset of eighth seed Alexander Bublik by winning 76 per cent of points on the Kazakh’s second serve. Draper finished last season by advancing to his maiden ATP Tour final in Sofia.

"Very proud of myself today," Draper said. "It was a tough match against a guy who is very unpredictable. I'm very happy to get through.

"I made my first final at the backend of last year and I'm back into a final of my next 250 so I'm really hoping I can get over the line tomorrow.”