Indian Wells champion Draper exits Miami Open
03.22.25
Jakub Mensik, Photo by Peter Staples/ATP Tour
By Harvey Fialkov
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — There will be no Sunshine Double champion on the men’s side after Indian Wells titleist Jack Draper ran into another teenage phenom in Jakub Mensik at the Miami Open presented by Itaú Saturday afternoon.
Mensik, a sturdy 6-foot-4, 19-year-old Czech, has been grouped in the Next Gen contingent with Joao Fonseca, Learner Tien and Arthur Fils as challengers to the older generation of Jannik Sinner, 23, and Carlos Alcaraz, 21.
Mensik put on a dominant serving performance with 21 aces, no double-faults, 86 percent of points won on his first serves with an average speed of 131-mph, while converting 7-of-8 trips to the net to edge the red-hot, sixth-seeded Brit, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (3) in a second-round match in a sun-splashed, packed Grandstand.
He also smacked 45 winners to just 25 unforced errors in a near flawless outing.
“There’s always space for improvement,’’ said Mensik, who played a Challenger in the Dominican Republic last week after getting bounced out of Indian Wells by Karen Khachanov in the second round. “Jack is playing unbelievably well the last couple of weeks and too many other times. I knew it would be difficult. It’s completely different conditions [much faster] here than Indian Wells and I already won one match so it was a little advantage on my side. I took it like an opportunity and am glad I showed the performance today that I was able to win in two tiebreakers.”
The last man to sweep the Sunshine Double Masters Series was the legendary Roger Federer in 2017. Draper admitted he needs to learn how to deal with the grueling nature of winning back-to-back hard-court Masters 1000 events, but gave all the credit to Mensik, the only active player to boast a winning record against Top 10 players (6-5) with a minimum of 10 matches.
“I couldn’t get a read or look on the service,’’ said Draper, 23, who saved 8-of-9 break points, but won just seven of 50 points on Mensik’s pulverizing serves. “I know there are some things I can do better. It was a big change in surfaces from last week. … But he was too good today and I can draw a lot of lessons from that. I’m obviously disappointed but it’s fine. It only gives me more motivation.”
Mensik said he was distracted when the raucous Brazilian fans stormed the Grandstand to prepare for Fonseca, their teen idol, who was scheduled to play there against 19th-ranked Ugo Humbert.
However, because of the quick matches on Stadium Court, the powers-to-be switched the match to the 14,000-seat stadium, which created a mass exodus from the Grandstand and caused a slight delay in the Mensik-Draper taut tilt.
“It was confusing,’’ said Mensik, who announced his arrival in several quarterfinal finishes last year. “The atmosphere here is like playing in Buenos Aires. In our match they were pretty tough because they were noisy and drinking a lot.”
Once Rio de Janeiro resettled in the stadium, the rabid Brazilian fans had plenty to cheer about as Fonseca, 18, dropped just four points on his serve while winning 25 of 26 first-service points (96 percent) to roll past the 19th-seeded Frenchman 6-4, 6-3. Two months ago, Humbert beat Fonseca in a Davis Cup qualifier in France.
“It was super different,’’ said Fonseca, who became the youngest man to reach the third round in Miami since 2007 when Juan Martin del Potro did it. “The court was super fast. The crowd was for his side. He likes to play for the crowd. Same as me. I like to play for the crowd. Today the crowd was big for the Brazilians. That was a big difference.”
Top-seeded Alexander Zverev, who seems to be flying under the radar, cruised past Aussie qualifier Jacob Fearnley, 6-2, 6-4 in his first match of a tournament he has yet to add to his total of six Masters titles.
The 6-foot-6 German, who has already attended two Miami Heat games this week, admitted to a mental hangover after his finals loss to Sinner in the Australian Open. He has gone 4-4 since, including an early departure as the No. 1 seed at Indian Wells.
“It was mentally very difficult. I was very sad about losing another final,” said Zverev, 27. “I got home, and I basically went to practice straightaway the next day. I didn’t give myself enough time to process what happened. I didn’t give my mind time to kind of just really chill out and do me first; kind of take care of myself first.”
Zverev said he remained at a luxurious resort in Indian Wells and practiced privately to help, “me breathe a little bit.” He worked on his serve and on Saturday, he won 90 percent of his first serves and was not broken.
“There are certain things in my game that I could always rely on,’’ he said. “I couldn’t even rely on them in Indian Wells. I had time to work on my game. I had time to work on my mind a little bit, as well, and hopefully start off fresh and do well here.”
The Top 10 male seeds are dropping like iguanas from trees during a cold spell.
Already sent packing on Friday were No. 2 Alcaraz and No. 7 Daniil Medvedev. On Saturday, No.6 Draper fell as did eighth-seeded Russian Andrey Rublev, who was dismissed 7-5, 6-4 by 51st-rank Zizou Bergs of Belgium. It was his first-ever win over a Top 20 player after 12 defeats.
It was a tough day for another Indian Wells finalist as 11th-seeded Dane Holger Rune, who fell to Draper last week, was sent packing by titanic server, 6-foot-11 Reilly Opelka, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5) with close friend and three-time Miami Open champion Venus Williams in his players’ box.
Opelka, 27, here on a protective ranking because he missed most of the last two years recovering from multiple wrist and hip surgeries, had seen his ranking drop from 17 in 2022 to 114.
Opelka slammed 21 aces to Rune’s one and was only broken once in the match, while crushing 44 winners to just 17 by the 21-year-old Dane, who was ranked 4th in August 2023.
Rune was serving at 5-6 in the decisive tiebreaker, when Opelka ripped his second serve for a clean backhand winner in the corner for his first win over a Top 15 player since shocking Novak Djokovic in Brisbane last December.
“I’ll take any win at this stage,’’ said Opelka, who next plays Tomas Machac, the recent winner of the Acapulco 500 and who he fell to in five long sets in this year’s Australian Open.
Joining his American compatriot in the third round is third-seeded Taylor Fritz, a Californian now living in Miami, who disposed of Italian Lorenzo Sonego 7-6 (2), 6-3. Fellow American Frances Tiafoe gutted out a 7-5, 7-6 (5) victory over Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich-Fokina.
However, 13th-seeded American Ben Shelton didn’t join his pals in the winner’s circle as he was stunned by wild card Coleman Wong, 6-7 (3), 2-6, 7-6 (5) in front of jam-packed Court 1 filled with Shelton fans screaming and chanting, BEN, throughout the match.
Wong, 20, and ranked 128th, lives in Hong Kong but has trained at Rafael Nadal’s tennis academy in Mallorca for the past three years. Nadal, Wong’s idol, tweeted his protégé congratulations: “We are very proud of you, Coleman! A historic win for Hong Kong. Dreams come true.”
Wong’s win over 82nd-ranked Daniel Altmaier in the first round was the first in history in a Masters 1000 by a player from Hong Kong.
Wong admitted nerves got to him in the third set when he frittered away a 5-2 lead and then when serving for the match at 5-3 was broken at love which prompted Shelton to hype up his verbose fan base by putting his hand to his ear. He held two match points with Shelton serving at 5-6, but again wavered.
But Wong maintained his composure in the tiebreaker and after Shelton – one of Wong’s favorite players — botched a routine backhand, he served out his first victory over a player in the Top 50. Wong, who has a career record of 12-11, collapsed on the court, holding back tears.
“I really enjoy playing against top players,’’ said Wong, the second-lowest-ranked man to reach the third round in Miami in 10 years (Martin Damm, 2024). “When I started playing tennis at 5, I was dreaming about how I can play in the Miami Open and to play against a tall player like Ben. I’m really lucky to have the chance to play through with the wild card and then to play against Ben it was very emotional.”
Wong next plays Lucky Loser Adam Walton, ranked 89th, for an opportunity for a huge payday of at least $60,440 for two players who were fortunate to make the draw. Walton got in because 2021 Miami Open champion Hubert Hurkacz pulled out with a sore back. He entered the event with a lifetime ATP record of 4-17.
