Jiri Lehecka showed how high his ceiling can be by out-playing Carlos Alcaraz in Doha

“I was just waiting for the moment to pull all these things together,” Jiri Lehecka said after his 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 win over top seed Carlos Alcaraz in Doha on Thursday.

“I still believed in my game, I still wanted to play my game style, I still wanted to be an aggressive player.”

It wouldn’t have been surprising if the 25th-ranked Czech had lost a little of that belief by the middle of the third set against Alcaraz. After winning the first, he had watched the Spaniard turn the rallies around, win the second set, and go up 4-2 in the third. Alcaraz was serving well, returning even better, and playing with the calm confidence of a man who had won seven straight matches and four straight three-setters. Serving at 2-4, the early fire in Lehecka’s game appeared to have gone out, as he sent two forehands listlessly long, and brought himself to a break point that might have sealed his fate.

But Lehecka had played too well for too long, and matched Alcaraz in just about every category, to cave now. He erased that break point with a service winner and dug out a tough hold. Now, as he said, was the moment to bring everything together.

Read More: Seeds go five for five as Carlos Alcaraz fends off Luca Nardi to lead Doha quarterfinalists

Lehecka started Alcaraz’s next service game with two point-winning forehands, and broke by out-playing Alcaraz in a long rally. At 4-4, he powered through an easy service hold and finished with an ace. Finally, with Alcaraz serving at 4-5, 30-30, Lehecka took his chance. Two chances, actually: He fired back a strong forehand return to reach match point, then hit an even better backhand return to complete the upset and record his first victory over the world No. 3

“I feel great on a night like this,” Lehecka said. “The match was just up and down since the beginning. It’s a super-big achievement.”

Alcaraz’s defeat ended his win streak, ended his bid to win Doha in his debut, and ended his effort, for this week, to gain more ground on No. 1 Jannik Sinner, who will miss upcoming 1000-level events in Indian Wells, Miami (where he’s the defending champion), and Monte Carlo before his doping suspension ends on May 4.

Alcaraz is known for his ups and downs from one set to the net, but in Rotterdam and Doha he had found ways not to let those dips in form prove fatal. Was this a case of him reverting to his more erratic ways? There were certain shot selections you could quibble with. In the final game, for instance, he missed an ambitious volley that he probably should have let bounce; he double faulted at a key moment when he was up 4-3; and with a chance at a second break in the third set, he couldn’t get a fairly routine forehand return over the net.

On the whole, though, this match felt like a showcase for how well Lehecka can play, rather than an example of Alcaraz’s failings. When Lehecka made the quarterfinals at the Australian Open two years ago, it was assumed by many of us that the Czech Republic had found its Top 20 replacement for Tomas Berdych. Lehecka is an excellent athlete who generates pace with ultra-clean ball striking. He can close at the net, and can trade forehands with anyone, including Alcaraz. Injuries have kept him on the sidelines, but today was proof of what he can do when he’s healthy.

Lehecka moves into the semifinals in Doha on Friday, and within striking distance of the Top 20 for the first time.

“I knew that I had the level to produce that kind of tennis, if I can be a little more consistent in the matches,” he said.