Madrid Masters: Clinical Mensik outplays Shelton to power into last 16
Jakub Mensik beat Ben Shelton 6-1, 6-4 on Sunday evening and will play Kazakh Alexander Bublik in the next round
Jakub Mensik, Madrid 2025 (Khadim sylla / Tennis Majors)
No 22 seed Jakub Mensik moved into the last 16 of the Madrid Masters by beating Ben Shelton, the No 12 seed, 6-1, 6-4 at the Caja Mágica.
Mensik has now recorded five top-20 wins in a row since his loss to Alex De Minaur in Rotterdam back in February. During that time, he has surged up the rankings having clinched his maiden ATP title at the prestigious 1000-level Miami Open last month.
Shelton, meanwhile, was uncharacteristically out of sorts, with unforced errors flowing from racquet as he struggled to find solutions to Mensik’s clinical power and precision.
The Czech dominated the opening set, breaking three times without reply to move into a much deserved one-set lead. At the end of that first set, Shelton recorded13 unforced errors to only three winners, compared with Mensik’s much tidier stats of nine winners to seven unforced errors.
A single break of serve was all Mensik needed to dispatch an under-par Shelton, who failed to generate a single break point opportunity.
Mensik, ranked No 23, will face Kazakh Alexander Bublik next.
Jakub Mensik won against American qualifier Ethan Quinn (7-6 (4), 6-1) in the previous round of the Madrid tournament.
During the second round of the Madrid tournament, Shelton, ranked No 13, won against Argentinian Mariano Navone (4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3).
Madrid Masters 1000, other third-round results (Caja Mágica, clay, EUR 8.055.385, most recent results first):
- Alex De Minaur vs. Denis Shapovalov
- Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. Lorenzo Musetti
- Jack Draper vs. Matteo Berrettini
- Karen Khachanov vs. Tommy Paul
- Frances Tiafoe vs. Alexandre Muller
- Cameron Norrie vs. Gabriel Diallo
- Grigor Dimitrov vs. Jacob Fearnley
- Damir Dzumhur vs. Matteo Arnaldi
- Sebastian Korda vs. Casper Ruud
- Francisco Cerundolo vs. Francisco Comesana: sunday
- Taylor Fritz (3) beat Benjamin Bonzi: 4-6, 7-5 ret.
- Daniil Medvedev (9) beat Juan Manuel Cerundolo (Q): 6-2, 6-2
- Alexander Zverev (1) beat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (28): 2-6, 7-6 (3), 7-6
- Brandon Nakashima (31) beat Flavio Cobolli: 7-5, 6-3
- Alexander Bublik beat Andrey Rublev (7): 6-4, 0-6, 6-4
