By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Saturday March 29, 2025
Jakub Mensik fired 25 aces in his three-set win over Taylor Fritz to grow to be the third youngest participant to succeed in a Miami Open males’s singles closing. The vanquished American had nothing however reward for the enhancements that the Czech teen has made for the reason that pair final met on the US Open in 2023.
“He is actually good,” Fritz mentioned after the 7-6(4), 4-6, 7-6(4) loss. “I performed him on his 18th birthday on the Open. Clearly he is improved loads since then. I believe he is improved naturally, like nearly the whole lot in his recreation has improved. Once you’re younger like that, you are simply going to get higher.”
Fritz had quite a lot of bother making inroads in opposition to Mensik’s serve. He broke as soon as within the center set however that was all he might handle in opposition to the teenager.
“The serve is a large enchancment,” Fritz mentioned. “I performed him on the US Open in ’23. He had an enormous serve, however he did not place it that effectively. I used to be capable of simply be on his serve on a regular basis. It was huge, however he did not hit the spots.”
Fritz mentioned that the pinpoint location of Mensik’s serve was what made such an issue to deal with. He added that guessing may need been his greatest probability.
“The spot serving at the moment was insane,” Fritz mentioned. “I actually ought to have simply began guessing and selecting a aspect extra usually as a substitute of attempting to react and use my attain like I usually do. I felt like both he missed the serve or he hit it inside an inch or two of the road. I actually ought to have simply began guessing.”
