Jakub Mensik became the second teenager to take out a top-10 opponent at the 2025 Australian Open when he defeated world No. 6 Casper Ruud 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 on Wednesday night in Margaret Court Arena.
Mensik blasted 22 aces compared to only one double-fault while dropping his serve just once in the match. The 19-year-old Czech fired more than twice as many winners as Ruud–62 to 30–on his way to victory in two hours and 44 minutes.
“I feel great,” Mensik assured. “It was a really tough match. Casper was playing really great and it was tough from the start. I am happy with my performances so far. I am happy I showed my best level on a big court.”
The world No. 48’s heroics came less than 24 hours after 18-year-old Brazilian Joao Fonseca beat Andrey Rublev 7-6(1), 6-3, 7-6(5) for what was by far the most notable first-round result at Melbourne Park. Fonseca and Mesik are the first pair of teenagers to upset top-10 opponents at the same Grand Slam since Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray at Wimbledon in 2006 (Djokovic vs. No. 8 Tommy Robredo, Murray d. No. 5 Andy Roddick).
“All the young players who are playing here are trying their best to reach the same level, like Jannik and Carlos were a few years ago,” said Mensik, who recently lost to Fonseca in a five-setter at the 2024 NextGen ATP Finals–with all five sets going to a tiebreaker. “We can approach it the same and try to reach the same level, compete against them. It’s great that there is a new blood always. We can see that tennis is moving on; we can see different or new names on the tournaments. For the fans, for the tennis, for everything, it’s really great.
“The timing of Next Gen (in mid-December) helped us a lot. All of us played really great matches. Also in the tournaments before [theĀ Australian Open], we were doing really well. That’s the most important thing at the beginning of the season to have the match count and to come to the Grand Slam with matches played.”
Speaking of Djokovic and Murray, their player-coach relationship continued with the former’s 6-1, 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-2 victory over Jaime Faria on Wednesday evening. The 37-year-old Serb lost a set in a second consecutive match but managed to advance in exactly three hours.
Djokovic and Mensik are joined in the third round by Alexander Zverev, Tommy Paul, Ugo Humbert, Arthur Fils, Tomas Machac, and Jack Draper. Machac and Draper survived five-setters against Reilly Opelka and Thanasi Kokkinakis, respectively.
nice one, Mensik