Jakub Mensik earned one of the biggest wins of his career so far over Jannik Sinner at the 2026 Qatar Open.
Mensik beat Sinner in the quarterfinals of the ATP 500 competition, bagging his fourth top-five win and becoming the first player ranked outside the top ten to defeat the Italian on a hard court since Ben Shelton in 2023.
Is it time to start worrying about Jannik Sinner yet?
He has not looked himself in 2026…
Still just 20 years of age, the Czech star has already earned some huge victories, overcoming the likes of Jack Draper, Taylor Fritz and even Novak Djokovic.
He conquered Djokovic in the final of the Miami Open last year to claim his first ATP Masters 1000 crown.
However, there is one player inside the top ten who holds an interesting undefeated streak against Mensik: Alex de Minaur.
Alex de Minaur’s undefeated record against Jakub Mensik
De Minaur has faced Mensik five times on the ATP Tour, and has emerged victorious on all five occasions.
The two stars first clashed at the Vienna Open in 2024, where the Australian came back from a set down to advance to the semifinals.
Mensik and De Minaur met three times in 2025, with the first coming in Rotterdam, where the latter won in straight sets.
Later on in the season, De Minaur beat Mensik at the Laver Cup and advanced past the young star at the China Open via a walkover.
Their most recent matchup was at the United Cup, where, once again, De Minaur had no problem against Mensik, winning 6-4, 6-1.
Alex de Minaur neutralises Jakub Mensik’s biggest weapon
De Minaur’s incredible record against Mensik is no surprise, really, when you take a look at their statistics on the ATP Tour.
Mensik is one of the biggest servers in men’s tennis currently, ranking third on the tour for aces per match, with 13.3.
He trails only Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard and Reilly Opelka, who average 13.7 and 17.1, respectively.
The serve is arguably Mensik’s biggest weapon on the court, which is easily neutralised by De Minaur, one of the best returners in the world.
Will Alex de Minaur ever crack the ATP top five?
De Minaur ranks fourth on the ATP Tour in return rating, which takes into account the percentage of first serve return points won, percentage of second serve return points won, return games won and break points converted.
His rating of 157.4 is less than only three players: Sebastian Baez, Carlos Alcaraz and Sinner.
In their last match at the 2026 United Cup, De Minaur created six break-point opportunities against Mensik and converted four of them.
De Minaur enjoyed a return rating of 210 that day, which dwarfed Mensik’s total of 74.
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