Fresh face Jakub Mensik has captured the attention of the tennis world with a run to the final of his third ATP tour-level match in Doha. He will face the Russian veteran Karen Khachanov.
Czechia’s Jakub Mensik is about to take the tennis world by storm. Or more precisely, he has already begun to do just that. The 18 year-old was 5-2 lifetime in professional tennis matches coming into Doha. He now has a crack at a title in his third try out. And while it might seem that he has come out of nowhere, he gave us a glimpse of possible stardom at the Australian Open already in January.
The teen made it through 3 rounds of qualifying, took out Denis Shapovalov in the first round, then pushed Hubert Hurkacz to 5 sets in the second before finally succumbing to the Pole. But even still, his run this week is just flat-out impressive. Wins over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (5), Andy Murray, Andrey Rublev (1), and Gael Monfils set up his showdown with Khachanov.
Karen Khachanov’s run to the final was nowhere near the gauntlet run that Mensik had to complete. As the No. 2 seed, Khachanov had a first round bye, then nearly a walkover in the quarters due to retirement at 3-0 by Emil Ruusuvuori. If this were a contest of which player is fresher, Khachanov would win hands down.
Even Mensik’s ranking of 116 says very little, since he certainly isn’t playing like a player ranked outside the top 100. Expect this one to go the distance. The crowd is likely to get behind the “underdog” (Mensik) quickly. Khachanov is a composed player and the cheering shouldn’t bother him much, but the Czech man just has more momentum.
Cheryl pick – Mensik in 3
Ricky pick – Mensik in 3
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