In a battle of two youngsters heavily tipped to challenge leading lights Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, it was Jakub Mensik who outlasted his younger opponent Joao Fonseca to book a place in his first grand slam semi-final.
The match in some ways mimicked those early clashes between Alcaraz and Sinner: the flashy, much-hyped, pure shotmaker and entertainer against the more brutal, clinical, machine-like opponent. And in this case it was the precise serving of Mensik – coupled with a delicate touch at the net – that prevailed over the more spectacular, but equally more erratic, tennis of his 19-year-old challenger.
