Jakub Mensik stuns Sinner in Doha for biggest win of his career | ATP tour | Tennis

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Mensik stuns Sinner in Doha for biggest victory of his career

The 20-year-old Czech plays the semi-finals with Fils in Qatar
February 19, 2026

Jakub Mensik has a track record of causing trouble at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open. Yet the 20-year-old reached new heights at the ATP 500 on Thursday when he stunned world number 2 Jannik Sinner with a stylish performance in the quarter-final.

Mensik upset Sinner 7-6(3), 2-6, 6-3 for the biggest win of his career on the PIF ATP Ranking. Two years ago, the Czech earned his first Top 5 victory against Andrei Rublev in his escape to the championship match in Doha. On Thursday night he produced a nerveless deciding set to triumph in his first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting with Sinner and book a semi-final meeting with Arthur Fils.

Worth a greeting 🫡

Finalist of 2024 @mensik_jakub_ records his first ever Top 3 win @QatarTennis | #QatarExxonMobilOpen pic.twitter.com/ZW36RRgFT9

— ATP tour (@atptour) February 19, 2026

“I honestly don’t know,” Mensik said, when asked how he achieved his victory. “Before the match I knew the quality of Jannik. A great guy, a great champion. What he has done in his young career is already quite impressive, so I knew it would be a tough task. But even with that thought, I came to the match to win it, and I had a winning mentality.”

“I served quite well, even though the conditions started to slow down during the night. It was a very tough mental battle. After the second set, when my energy dropped a bit, I’m very happy that I came back after the toilet break and from the beginning of the third set I just started serving well again. I’m just happy with the performance I showed today.”

Mensik produced a brutal serving performance to sink Sinner. According to Infosys ATP Stats, he won 82 percent (49/60) of the points after his first throw, and he recovered impressively in the third set after his level dropped midway through the match.

The Czech dug himself out of an early hole in the quarterfinals by escaping 0/40 and saving a total of four break points to hold serve in the third game. With his serve starting to fire, Mensik did not face another break point in the set and won five of the last seven points in the tie-break, clinching the set with a powerful forehand that left Sinner helpless.

Sinner’s reaction to being dropped from the first set of his debut campaign in Doha was emphatic. He quickly leveled the match, winning four consecutive games at 2–2, albeit with the help of Mensik. The Czech couldn’t maintain his level from the first set and produced three double faults, including two on his way to a break in the sixth game.

Still, Sinner couldn’t do anything about Mensik’s big finish. The sixth seed continued to go for his shots when he had the chance to dictate and broke serve in the opening and closing games of the deciding set, completing a famous two-hour, 12-minute win. The Czech, who is chasing his second ATP Tour title of 2026 after beating Auckland in the first week of the year, coolly walked to the net to hug Sinner after finishing the job.

The 2025 Miami champion Mensik is now 4-2 against Top 5 opponents, a tally that includes wins against ATP No. 1 Club members Novak Djokovic and Sinner, and he is up three places to number 13 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings as a result of his performance in Doha so far. He will attempt to reach the final in the Qatari capital for the second time on Friday when he takes on 21-year-old Fils.

Returning to action earlier this month after playing just two matches in the previous eight months due to a back injury, Frenchman Fils earned his first tour-level semi-final appearance since last April by beating Jiri Lehecka 6-3, 6-3.

“I certainly didn’t know that I would play so well so quickly,” Fils said at his post-match press conference. “You don’t know what to expect when you come back from an injury after six to eight months. So you don’t really know what to expect.”

“[I’m] pretty happy with the way I’m playing now. It’s not my best tennis yet, but we’re getting there. I just have to fight every match to play a lot of balls, play a lot of games, sets, points, get ready again and keep getting better.