Mensik Silences Fonseca to Reach RG Semis

Jakub Mensik showed the world how much suffering he could endure when he closed out his four hour and 41-minute second round win in five sets over Mariano Navone of Argentina. Two rounds later he fought through another four-setter to defeat Andrey Rublev and reach his maiden Grand Slam quarterfinal. 

Should we be surprised that he battled through what looked to be a serious undisclosed injury during Tuesday’s young gun tussle with Joao Fonseca and didn’t even drop a set? 

Mensik secured a 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(3) victory over 19-year-old Joao Fonseca to become the youngest Czech player to ever reach a major semifinal in front of an energetic crowd inside Court Philippe-Chatrier. By doing so the 20-year-old sets a clash with second-seeded Alexander Zverev on Friday. 

“At the end of the match there were some incredible shots, and I’m super happy that I’m the one who won the match,” Mensik said. “I came back from a break down twice, I’m happy I stayed focused through the match and kept fighting until the end.”

Blistering tennis made Mensik the better player through two sets, when not even the shouts of Joao! Fonseca! from the rowdy Brazilian fans could seem to wake up the Brazilian. Perhaps he was flat after having battled through two comebacks from two sets down to reach the quarterfinals, including one in the third round against Novak Djokovic – the biggest win of his career. 

But the tone changed at the beginning of the third when Mensik was broken in his first service game, then started showing signs of an issue in his upper left leg. He tried to stretch the leg and continued to play, but gradually Fonseca picked up his energy and looked to be taking charge. 

Mensik looked spooked, and the court seemed to tilt away from him, but he never took a medical timeout, and never panicked. He showed more of the gumption that got him in this position and refused to let Fonseca pull away in the set. 

Mensik broke twice to level, but chaos still seemed to be looming when he missed out on six match points in the 12th game. How would he recover from that tragic game in which Fonseca held for 6-6, especially after the second match point, which saw him miss an easy overhead wide of the sideline? 

There was also a second serve by Fonseca, that was in by about a millimetre.

“It was really tough to stay focused until the end, a couple of match points, I don’t even know if it was out or it was in,” Mensik said. “It could have been over then, but I’m happy that I managed to come back in the tiebreak.”

Sensing the urgency in the tiebreak, Mensik doubled down on his first-strike tennis.  

“The athleticism on display from Mensik is baffling,” said Jim Courier, who commentated the match for TNT, as the Czech smoothly slid into the forecourt to knock off a volley for a 2-0 lead in the breaker. 

Fonseca fought back to 4-3, but Mensik was simply too good the rest of the way. He converted his seventh match point to set a date with destiny – and Zverev – on Friday. 

Mensik’s two hour and 44-minute victory on Tuesday takes his cumulative court time through five rounds to 15:44. Zverev, meanwhile, has spent 11:42 on court.