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 because the pair final met on the US Open in 2023.
“He is actually good,” Fritz stated 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 rather a lot since then. I believe he is improved naturally, like nearly every part in his recreation has improved. While you’re younger like that, you are simply going to get higher.”
Fritz had a variety of bother making inroads in opposition to Mensik’s serve. He broke as soon as within the center set however that was all he may handle in opposition to the teenager.
“The serve is an enormous enchancment,” Fritz stated. “I performed him on the US Open in ’23. He had a giant serve, however he did not place it that nicely. I used to be in a position to simply be on his serve on a regular basis. It was massive, however he did not hit the spots.”
Fritz stated that the pinpoint location of Mensik’s serve was what made such an issue to cope with. He added that guessing may need been his greatest likelihood.
“The spot serving as we speak was insane,” Fritz stated. “I actually ought to have simply began guessing and selecting a facet 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.”
