LONDON/WASHINGTON, June 22, 2025 (by Michael Dickens)
In what has been a week filled with milestones, No. 1 seed Carlos Alcaraz defeated World No. 30 Jiri Lehecka to win this year’s HSBC Championships title in West London Sunday afternoon.
Alcaraz, who entered his fifth straight final of the season on Andy Murray Arena at Queen’s Club, extended his personal-best winning streak to 18 straight matches with his 7-5, 6-7 (5), 6-2 victory over Lehecka in two hours and eight minutes. With it, Alcaraz garnered his ATP Tour-leading 42nd match of the season and lifted his fifth title trophy of 2025, also tops on the ATP Tour. He kept Lehecka from capturing the biggest title of his career – and first above ATP 250 level.
Also, Alcaraz became the first player since Rafael Nadal in 2008 to win Roland-Garros and Queen’s Club in the same year and just the third Spanish man along with Nadal and Feliciano Lopez to win four career grass-court tournaments in the Open Era.
“King Carlos reigns in London once more!” @carlosalcaraz | #HSBCChampionships
— HSBC Championships (@QueensTennis) June 22, 2025
Although Alcaraz and Lehecka had split their two previous matches, with the 22-year-old Spaniard winning in the second round at Queen’s Club two years ago and the 23-year-old Czech in their latest encounter in the Doha quarterfinals last February, this time the World No. 2 from Murcia, Spain won his 251st career tour-level match by combining graceful movement with a variety of athletic – and at times acrobatic – groundstrokes. Locked in from first ball to last ball, Alcaraz showed all the right stuff in winning the 21st ATP Tour-level title of his career.
Alcaraz struck 33 winners – including 18 aces – and won 87 percent (47 of 54) of his first-serve points. He converted three of five break points while facing none on his serve, and outpointed Lehecka 104-79. Although Lehecka hit 26 winners, he also made 36 unforced errors – 11 more than Alcaraz.
“This tournament is really special to me,” Alcaraz said during an on-court interview with the BBC‘s Clare Balding after receiving his champion’s trophy. He’s the 12th player in the tournament’s 54-year history to win the Queen’s Club title at least twice.
“I’m just happy to lift the trophy once again. It’s been an incredible week. … I came without expectation, just to play good tennis and get used to the grass. I [was lucky] to have a lot of friends and family here that made me feel really comfortable on court and off the court. Thank you to all the people who supported me during the week. It’s really special and I can’t wait to come back next year.”
So nice he had to do it twice
Highlights as @carlosalcaraz won his second title at The Queen’s Club! ↓
— HSBC Championships (@QueensTennis) June 22, 2025
From the outset, Alcaraz pulled out a very close and competitive opening set 7-5, after breaking Lehecka in the 11th game to go ahead 6-5. Throughout the 45-minute first set, in which he faced no break points on his serve, Alcaraz displayed pin-point accuracy in dominating his service games, dropping just four points. He also took advantage of 16 unforced errors by Lehecka.
And we’re going to a second set tie break #HSBCChampionships pic.twitter.com/ME2pXZ61pC
— HSBC Championships (@QueensTennis) June 22, 2025
Then, just one set away from winning Queen’s Club for the second time in three years, Alcaraz was pushed to a second-set tiebreaker by Lehecka as neither player faced a break point. During the tie-break, Lehecka broke to go ahead 4-2 after connecting a solid forehand winner but Alcaraz kept it close with a winner of his own, a touch volley that came while charging toward the net. He broke back to level it at 4-all after Lehecka was unable to return a backhand lob Alcaraz lunged at with his momentum going away from the net.
Soon, Lehecka regained the lead after hitting his seventh ace, and later took advantage of a double fault by Alcaraz to gain a set point at 6-5. The Czech No. 3 forced a decider when he hit a service winner to win the 54-minute set 7-6 (5).
In the third set, Alcaraz broke for the second time in the match to go ahead 3-1 after Lehecka netted a third-shot forehand. He consolidated the break for a 4-1 advantage by winning a 16-shot rally that morphed into a battle of dancing backhand returns. Soon, Alcaraz moved to within a game of his second Queen’s Club title following an easy hold at love. Then, he broke Lehecka at 15 one final time, taking advantage of a netted return. Finally, the title – and, arguably, the largest trophy on the ATP Tour to lift – was Alcaraz’s to savor.
King Carlos reigns again. ✨#HSBCChampionships pic.twitter.com/zExDkertpb
— HSBC Championships (@QueensTennis) June 22, 2025
Despite the loss, Lehecka was upbeat during the trophy ceremony. He spoke briefly after receiving his runner-up plate. “It’s tough for me to find the words now, but I’m super happy that I had the chance to fight for the title today,” he said. “Well done to Carlos and your team for doing a great job. I gave everything I had today and unfortunately it wasn’t enough.”
Alcaraz improved to 27-1 since April, with his lone loss coming against Holger Rune of Denmark in the Barcelona final two months ago. With his fifth title of the 2025 season secured, it’s the third time in his career Alcaraz has achieved the five-title plateau, after winning five in 2022 and six in 2023. Alcaraz is the fifth active man to win four-plus grass-court titles, joining Novak Djokovic (8), Matteo Berrettini (4), Taylor Fritz (4) and Nicolas Mahut (4).
Next up for Alcaraz is the Wimbledon Championships, beginning in eight days, where he is the defending champion. Although he will be the No. 2 seed behind World No. 1 Jannik Sinner, Alcaraz will be the one to beat. “The confidence [is] pretty high right now,” he said on Saturday, before taking the court for the final. “Obviously, as I said, as much wins as you get, you’re going to get more confident. The way that I’m moving, the way that I’m hitting the ball, I think it’s really high right now.”
For now, Alcaraz can enjoy being the King of Queen’s Club.
❤️
Getty pic.twitter.com/B6rgiv623x
— Carlos Alcaraz (@carlosalcaraz) June 22, 2025
Cash and Glasspool wins Queen’s Club for third doubles title of 2025
No. 4 seeds Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool of Great Britain, defeated unseeded Nikola Mektic of Croatia and Michael Venus of New Zealand, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 10-6, to win their third ATP Tour title this year.
The one-hour, 26-minute title victory, in which Cash and Glasspool combined to hit 16 aces among their 79 total points, lifted the British duo to their 33rd victory of the season in 43 matches. They converted two of five break points and outpointed their opponents 79-58.
After earning earlier titles this year in Brisbane and Doha, the Queen’s Club triumph was the fourth for Cash and Glasspool as a team overall and improved their career win-loss record as a team to 39-16.
Team Cashpool win their fourth title as a duo!!!
Julian Cash & Lloyd Glasspool beat Nikola Mektic & Michael Venus 6-3, 6-7, 10-6 to claim victory at The Queen’s Club #BackTheBrits | #HSBCChampionships pic.twitter.com/ZQ43FzmnuV
— LTA (@the_LTA) June 22, 2025
By the numbers
Carlos Alcaraz is the 12th player to win multiple Queen’s Club titles in the 54-year history of the grass-court event in West London. He joins: Andy Murray (5), Andy Roddick (4), Lleyton Hewitt (4), Boris Becker (4), John McEnroe (4), Jimmy Connors (3), Matteo Berrettini (2), Feliciano Lopez (2), Marin Cilic (2), Pete Sampras (2) and Ivan Lendl (2).
“Quotable …”
“I kind of believe into my game and into myself that if I’m really doing well and if I do the right things on court, the points and the ranking will improve. Again, it’s a nice step forward, and we will see how it goes. It is definitely something I’m working on, you know, to improve my ranking, as well. But the most important thing for me is just to focus on the game.
“If I’m doing everything correctly, then I’m really positive about the thing that the ranking will also improve.”
– Jiri Lehecka of Czechia, during his post-match news conference Saturday, on improving his ranking by reaching the Queen’s Club final. Up to No. 25 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings, Lehecka is near matching his career-best ranking of No. 22.
