By Richard Pagliaro Thursday, February 19, 2026
Photo credit: Miami Open, photo by Itau
A jolt Jakub Mencik drive manufacturing Jannik Sinner’s His head spun as the ball sailed past him.
The 20-year-old Mensik relied on his ferocious speed and sharp-angle volleys to defeat the world’s second-ranked Sinner 7-6(3), 2-6, 6-3 and reach the Doha semifinals.
“Well, I don’t know [the key] to be honest. Of course, I knew what Jannik was capable of before the fight,” Mencic said. “He’s a great guy, a great champion. What he has done in his career is already impressive.
“Even so, I came into the match to win. With a winning mentality, I served well… It was a very tough mental battle.
“Actually, after using the toilet, [at the end of the second set]I’m really glad I’m back. My serve started really well from the beginning of the third set and I’m very happy with my performance today. “
Miami Open champion Mencic ended Sinner’s 12-match winning streak at the ATP 500 level and ended his 14-match winning streak in the quarterfinals dating back to 2024. Since the start of the 2024 season, Sinner is 69-1 on hard courts against players ranked outside the top 10, but the fearless Mencik has broken that streak.
“Of course, it’s a great win,” Mencic said. “This will bring huge [reaction] in my country. The game continues. There’s no time to celebrate too much. I’m going to take a nap and I’ll wake up tomorrow. Hopefully I can recover well and try my best to play the same tennis as I did today. “
The 16th-ranked Mencic made history as the first Czech to defeat Wimbledon champion Sinner, regularly going toe-to-toe with the sport’s top strikers and winning crucial baseline encounters.
The highly skilled Mensik hit 71% of his serves, hit 11 aces, and only lost 11 points on his first serve, improving his record to 4 wins and 2 losses against top 5 opponents.
Mensik will meet the French Arthur Fells Compete for a spot in the finals.
The 21-year-old Fiers swept Czech eighth seed Jiri Lehka 6-3, 6-3 and reached the ATP semifinals for the 11th time. This was also the first time since Barcelona in April last year.
Sinner scored nine consecutive points with authoritative offense, turning a 2-2 deadlock into a 5-2 second set lead. Sinner broke serve for the second time in a row to reach the final in four straight games.
Despite the second seed’s momentum, Mencik regained the title about four minutes after going to the bathroom.
The Miami Open champion made consecutive errors to break Sinner and advance to the final.
Although Sinner earned a break point in the ensuing game, Mencik rose to the occasion under pressure. Mensik hit an ace and then made a backhand error to lock the score at 2-0.
After 1 hour and 52 minutes, Mensik danced with his hands and hit a diagonal forehand to rewrite the score to 3-1.
When Mencic isn’t slamming the ball from the baseline, he displays a soft touch. Mensik capped off an unexpected serve-and-volley run with a deft backhand volley winner to seal the tiebreaker at 4-2.
In the final game, Sinner defeated Love-30, eventually tying the score at 30. Mensik then hit a backhand to win match point. Mencic hit another backhand to cap off his biggest ranking victory in 2 hours and 11 minutes.
On that day, world number one Carlos Alcaraz fought back after losing a set first and defeated Karen Khachanov 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-3. Mensik ended Sinner’s hopes of a comeback with a powerful scoreline, ruining the prospects of a Doha final for the world’s top two.
Sinner faced 38-year-old Serbian superstar Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open. The latter was the oldest player in the top 20 of the Australian Open. Today he lost to the youngest player in the ATP top 20.
