Czech Jakub Mensik crashed the Miami Masters party for Novak Djokovic as the teenager kept the veteran Serb from a potential 100th ATP title with a 7-6 (4), 7-6 (4) upset title win.
The final was delayed nearly six hours by rain, with an afternoon start turning into a nighttime session. Mensik went on to claim the first Tour trophy of his career.
Djokovic, 37, won his last title at the Paris Olympic last summer and had looked in position to join the 100 club along with Roger Federer and Jimmy Connors.
But Mensik had other ideas, with the Czech posting the surprise result after two hours, falling to the court in pure relief on his back after claiming the biggest win of his young career.
“It’s just a mess in my head,” the 19-year-old said. “I don’t know what to say — this is incredible.”This is probably the biggest day of my life. I’m super-happy, I’m sure the feeling will come later.”
The surprise winner who knocked out last year’s US Open finalist Taylor Fritz in the semi-finals, said he kept his nerves in check on his way to the win.
“This was not the first time I’ve played Novak. But there is no harder task in tennis than to beat him in a final
“I feel this is my time, so I tried to focus on the match. I was really feeling the ball.”
The win produced the second-youngest Miami titleholder after Carlos Alcaraz, winner here in 2022 at age 18. His title was the fist for the Czech republic at the Masters level since Tomas Berdych won Paris Bercy two decades ago;
Djokovic was having problems with his right eye, taking drops for the problem as he struggled with his game.
Mensik took a 5-0 lead in the first-set tiebreaker, claiming the opener on his third opportunity – an overhead winner – against the six-time Miami champion.
The pair played level-pegging in the second set, which also went into a breaker. Mensik secured his triumph on a second match point after facing just one break point throughout.
The 18-year age gap between the winner and finalist was the largest ever at a Masters 1000 final.
Main photo:- Jakub Mensik celebrates his first ATP Masters 1000 title – by ATPTour.com
