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Unseeded 19-year-old Jakub Mensik defeated his childhood idol Novak Djokovic to win the Miami Open.
Jakub Mensik shocked Novak Djokovic to win Miami Open (AP)
Czech teenager Jakub Mensik upset Novak Djokovic 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/4) to win the Miami Open at Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday.
The 19-year-old, ranked 54th in the world, claimed his first title on the ATP Tour and denied Djokovic his 100th professional title.
The 54th-ranked Mensik faced tough odds in only his second ATP final but harnessed his best weapon to subdue the 24-times major winner with 14 aces.
The 37-year-old Djokovic had hoped to join Jimmy Connors (109) and Roger Federer (103) as the only men in the Open Era with 100 or more career titles but could not match the teenager’s speed and creative play.
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Mensik started strongly breaking Djokovic’s first serve game to go 2-0 up and the tall, big-serving Czech was dominating until, at 4-2 Djokovic broke back when Mensik found the net.
The set remained on serve from then on, but in the tie-break Mensik’s powerful serve, with two aces, put him in charge from the outset. He opened up a 5-0 lead and although Djokovic fought back the youngster sealed the set with an overhead volley.
It was the first set that Djokovic had lost in the entire tournament.
The second set was a nip and tuck affair with neither player able to break. Once again Mensik’s power proved decisive in the tie-break and when Djokovic went long on a return to hand him victory he fell to his back.
The age gap of 18 years and 102 days will be the largest in the history of ATP 1000-level final and the biggest age gap of any tour-level since 1976.
Rain Delays Final
Earlier, the start of the Miami Open men’s final on Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium was delayed 5 and a half hours. The players didn’t take the court due to rain and organisers deciding on completing the women’s doubles final.
The South Florida rain began during the women’s doubles final pitting Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider against Cristina Bucsa and Miyu Kato, with Andreeva and Shnaider leading 3-0 in the first set.
The women’s players returned to the court after the rain stopped and the courts were readied by court-drying machinery. But rain began minutes later before warmups and the umbrella-toting players left the court again.
The women returned to the court an hour later and resumed play as Andreeva and Schnaider went the distance, prevailing in a third-set match tiebreaker 6-3, 6-7 (5), 10-2.
About three-quarters of the fans were still in the stadium. Players were told that the doubles championship ceremony would be abbreviated for the start of the men’s singles final.
(With inputs from Agencies)