Former junior stars Korda, Popyrin meet at Astana Open on Friday as Baez, Lehecka also feature

Ravi Ubha

If one was told in the midst of January’s Australian Open that four Americans would make the fourth round of the US Open in September, Sebastian Korda likely would have been one of the picks. 

After all, he began the season by making a final in Adelaide — holding a match point on Novak Djokovic — and upset Daniil Medvedev at Melbourne Park. 

But unfortunately for Korda, his progress was stunted by a wrist injury that forced the 23-year-old to retire against Karen Khachanov in the quarterfinals. 

Korda returned in late April — finding few wins on clay — before a semifinal at a Wimbledon warmup event on grass in London. 

A reverse to Carlos Alcaraz in the last four began a 1-5 spell, though, and just when Korda got back to form again in Winston Salem in August, Astana’s fifth seed had to withdraw from his semifinal against Jiri Lehecka after rolling his ankle. 

He exited in the first round at the US Open and looked on as compatriots Ben Shelton, Tommy Paul, Frances Tiafoe and Taylor Fritz landed in the last 16 in New York. 

The world No. 28 still hopes to finish the year inside the top 20 and a semifinal last week in Chengdu — losing to Khachanov — won’t hurt. 

Korda begins his Astana campaign on Friday against Alexei Popyrin in a battle of big servers who reached No. 1 and No. 2 in the junior rankings, respectively. 

Popyrin won their lone junior tussle, although Korda prevailed at a Challenger on carpet in Germany in 2020 on the way to his first professional title. 

A year earlier, Korda — whose dad Petr won the Australian Open in 1998 — appeared in his first Challenger final in Astana. 

Even though he holds a higher ranking than world No. 45 Popyrin, the 24-year-old Australian is enjoying perhaps his finest season. 

He won his second title in Umag on clay in July and followed it up by advancing to the quarterfinals at the Masters 1000 in Cincinnati. 

Career high for Baez

Besides Korda, two other seeds see action on Friday in No. 2 Sebastian Baez and No. 4 Lehecka, after byes. 

They were ‘NextGen’ players not long ago, with Baez aged 22 and Lehecka 21. 

Baez sits at a career-high 27th in the rankings after winning two straight tournaments and reaching the third round at the US Open. 

He plays Austrian qualifier Jurij Rodionov, who edged Gregoire Barrere in a third-set tiebreak Thursday after saving two match points. 

Rodionov has been successful previously in Kazakhstan, triumphing at a Challenger in Almaty and making the semifinals of another Challenger in Astana in 2018. 

Lehecka plays a qualifier, too, in the towering Egor Gerasimov.

He led the Czechs in Davis Cup group stage play earlier this month to snap a two-match losing streak — one of the losses coming against Baez in the Winston Salem final. 

Lehecka is competing in Astana for the first time, having heard good things about the event from fellow players. 

«I like everything about Astana,» he said at the draw ceremony on Monday. «The organization of the tournament is amazing. I will try to show my best tennis and go as far as possible.»