Mensik proving a Top 10 conqueror; Will Djokovic be next in Shanghai?
p#NextGenATP star a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/jakub-mensik/m0ni/overview'Jakub Mensik/a is quickly becoming a Top 10 menace. Will a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/novak-djokovic/d643/overview'Novak Djokovic/a be the next player he stuns?/p
pThe 19-year-old from Czechia ousted No. 10 in the PIF ATP Rankings a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/grigor-dimitrov/d875/overview'Grigor Dimitrov/a 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 on Wednesday at the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/shanghai/5014/overview'Rolex Shanghai Masters/a to earn his first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting with Djokovic./p
pldquo;[I am] more than excited. Exciting is really a small word [for how I feel]. But yeah, obviously a dream come true,rdquo; Mensik said. ldquo;Because of him, I started to play tennis. When I was young and starting to play tennis, he was already on the top. So I was like, lsquo;Wow, he's really goodrsquo;. /p
pldquo;He [won] a lot of Grand Slams. And right now, when I'm 19 and he's still playing, I have this chance to play against him. Of course, when I started to play, there was one wish mdash; to play against him. So I'm really happy that it came true, and that I can play with him. We'll see which level I am on Friday.rdquo;/p
blockquote class="twitter-tweet"
p lang="en" dir="ltr"Remember the name ????a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NextGenATP?src=hashamp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"#NextGenATP/a star a href="https://twitter.com/mensik_jakub_?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"@mensik_jakub_/a records his fourth consecutive Top 10 victory to reach his first ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final.a href="https://twitter.com/SH_RolexMasters?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"@SH_RolexMasters/a | a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RolexShanghaiMasters?src=hashamp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"#RolexShanghaiMasters/a a href="https://t.co/g5Dvbktirt"pic.twitter.com/g5Dvbktirt/a/p
mdash; ATP Tour (@atptour) a href="https://twitter.com/atptour/status/1843982871092236592?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"October 9, 2024/a/blockquote
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pMensik will enter the match with confidence knowing he has won four consecutive matches against Top 10 opponents, including two in Shanghai (he is 4-2 overall). With his victory against Dimitrov, the teen became the second player this year (also Fabian Maroszan in Miami) to advance to a quarter-final by claiming multiple Top 10 wins./p
pThe fourth-placed player in the PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah also eliminated World No. 6 a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/andrey-rublev/re44/overview'Andrey Rublev/a in the second round en route to his first ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final. He is the youngest quarter-finalist in tournament history./p
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pMensik led by a service break in the deciding set and unsuccessfully served for the match at 5-3. However, he bounced back quickly in the next game and hit a blistering backhand return winner to break for the third time in the match according to Infosys ATP Stats and seal his victory after two hours and three minutes./p
pldquo;[It was a] very difficult match on the mental side because [there] were a lot of ups and downs. Grigor plays really well and always you have to keep fighting for every point,rdquo; Mensik said. ldquo;Itrsquo;s always tough to stay focused. So yeah, I'm really happy that I won, but it cost me a lot of energy.rdquo;/p
p[NEWSLETTER FORM]/p