Far from feeling any urgency to prove himself as the youngest man in the top 20, Jakub Mensik instead finds it pleasing to see teenagers pressing their claims at Australian Open 2026.
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The 16th seed, fresh from his second career title in Auckland, swept past Spain’s Rafael Jodar 6-2 6-4 6-4 on Thursday, and conceded it was different facing younger opponents after his first two years on tour.
“It's a great, great thing to see new players coming up on tour,” Mensik said.
“I mean, I've been saying that all the time, even two years ago when I was the one that was coming up, and I [had] a lot of expectations, a lot of media stuff …
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“Then, of course, I've been telling myself, it's just one year. Then the other years, they're all becoming new guys. So, of course, it's always good for our sport that there is always someone new, and you don't know what to expect.”
Jodar outlasted fellow 19-year-old qualifier Rei Sakamoto in the first round and while the Czech might not have known what to expect, he sounded a reminder on Thursday he was still the leading young prospect on the block.
Outside the ATP NextGen Finals, this was just Mensik’s second tour-level match against an opponent younger than him after beating Swiss Henry Bernet in Basel last year.
He improved to 2-0 after taking care of Jodar to set a third-round meeting against American Ethan Quinn, who eliminated Hubert Hurkacz in straight sets on Thursday.
“Rafa, I mean, he showed really, really good performance, good run here in AO,” he said.
“Even before in Canberra [he reached the final and] he won couple of Challengers before. So, yeah, it's great to see him, great to see all of them coming on tour and coming to compete.”
Fifth seed Lorenzo Musetti also enjoyed a smooth day out after breezing past Italian compatriot Lorenzo Sonego 6-3 6-3 6-4 at Margaret Court Arena.
The 23-year-old, who has reached at least the quarterfinals at the other three majors, had to put friendship aside to book his second-straight AO third-round berth.
“It was not an easy match to prepare, to play and to deal with because Lorenzo is one of my best friends on tour,” Musetti said.
“We recently had a title together in doubles [in Hong Kong], so we shared a lot of nice memories, so it's not easy to separate those things in the court.”
Musetti’s fellow 23-year-old, eighth seed Ben Shelton, ended an inspired Dane Sweeny’s bid for a maiden Grand Slam third round at John Cain Arena.
The American – a semifinalist at Melbourne Park last year – took down the Australian 6-3 6-2 6-2.
“I think that you run into guys that are playing at a very high level, playing some of their best tennis when you get there, and certainly every matchup is different,” Shelton said.
“You know, going from a quarters playing somebody to [Jannik] Sinner in a semis, that's a different problem to deal with, but I think that that's kind of just the normal being out on tour.
“You have so many different matchups, and you have to bring something different to every match.”
Late-blooming Valentin Vacherot is next, after the 30th seed brought down Australian Rinky Hijikata 6-1 6-3 4-6 6-2 at Kia Arena on Thursday.
It continued a whirlwind six months for the 27-year-old, following a surprise first Masters 1000 title in Shanghai over his cousin, Arthur Rinderknech, in October.
The win made Vacherot the first from Monaco to reach the third round at a Slam and further proof his unlikely title run in China was no flash in the pan.
“I'm sure so many people thought it was just the one week. Then even though I did well after in Paris as well, it was probably just about my confidence of the moment, so I'm just happy to win as many matches as I can,” Vacherot said.
“I just play tennis and try to play as good this season and every tournament. We'll see. We do the counts at the end.”