Alexander Zverev was cruising towards victory against Jiri Lehecka in the fourth round of Wimbledon when he faced an unexpected roadblock. The German had won the first two sets 6-4 and 7-5, respectively. The third set was level at 3-3 when the match was brought to a sudden halt and was shifted to the next day.

This was due to the All England Club’s strict 11 PM curfew that has been in place for years. If a match exceeds the time limit, then the officials suspend it and move to the next day. The clash between Zverev and Lehecka had begun at 9 PM (local time) and was suspended just four minutes before the 11 PM mark. Both players weren’t happy with this decision and appeared to be frustrated at the referee, Denise Parnell, who let them know about the suspension.

Lehecka was even seen arguing with her as she stepped onto the court. Both players will now have to return to the Centre Court on Tuesday and resume their match from the third set.

The match had been delayed massively because the clash between Grigor Dimitrov and Arthur Fery went on for five sets. The dramatic encounter concluded after three hours and 55 minutes on Centre Court and even resulted in many people not attending the Zverev-Lehecka match. Notably, only four people were present in the Royal Box during the match, with one of them being Roger Federer.

The threat of a curfew was imminent from the get-go, and it wasn’t a surprise that the organizers had to implement it eventually. The curfew had been introduced to minimize noise and traffic for nearby residents and has been in place for years now. Although this was the first match of this edition that was affected by it.

Zverev was seemingly more frustrated of the two as he could have wrapped up the match if it had gone on for a little longer. Having arrived at Wimbledon as a Grand Slam champion for the first time, he has been in quite remarkable form. The serve has been Zverev’s biggest weapon on the grass courts as well and helped him gain the advantage over Lehecka.

If Zverev does record a victory over his Czech opponent, then it will be the first time in 14 years that more than one German has reached the quarterfinals of the men’s singles draw at Wimbledon. But the momentum clearly wasn’t on his side as the play resumed on Tuesday.

Alexander Zverev loses the fourth set against Jiri Lehecka at Wimbledon

Lehecka was clearly the better player as the match resumed. Despite being under pressure after losing the first two sets, the Czech didn’t allow Zverev to clinch even a single game in the remainder of the third set.

He won three games in a row to secure the third set and avoid defeat. It wasn’t a surprise that all of Zverev’s momentum had faded due to the suspension.

This could turn out to be an opening for Lehecka, who has been a solid performer so far in the tournament. Having previously defeated Zverev back in 2023 at the United Cup, the 24-year-old now has a shot at not only causing a major upset but also taking a 2-1 lead in the H2H record.