Mensik reaches first Grand Slam semifinal after Fonseca thriller at Roland-Garros

Jakub Mensik did not just survive Joao Fonseca’s challenge at Roland-Garros. He held his shape under a booming Paris crowd, leaned on his serve and touched the net with enough softness to finish a 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(3) win that sent him into his first Grand Slam semifinal.

The 19-year-old Czech, seeded 26th, was playing his first major quarter-final and needed two hours and 33 minutes to close it out. He failed to convert his first six match points, then finally seized the seventh in the tiebreak, a sequence that showed how quickly pressure can turn a commanding scoreline into a test of nerve. The ATP Tour said Mensik became the first man born in 2004 or later to reach a major semifinal and the youngest Czech man ever to get that far.

The match was framed as a collision between two of tennis’ sharpest young prospects, and the crowd leaned heavily toward Fonseca. The Brazilian teenager arrived with momentum from a run that included a rally from two sets down to stun Novak Djokovic and a four-set win over Casper Ruud, his first Grand Slam quarter-final. Across his first four matches in Paris, Fonseca spent 14 hours and 29 minutes on court, and his energy helped create a charged atmosphere on Court Philippe-Chatrier. He became the first Brazilian man to reach the Roland-Garros quarter-finals since Gustavo Kuerten in 2004.

Mensik handled the pressure moments better. He said the match featured an “insane level” and that he stayed mentally focused and calm after missing the match points, adding that crowd noise did not affect him because he was “in the zone.” He also disclosed left-leg discomfort during the match, later describing it as a tight muscle that eased as the contest went on. Even so, he kept finding answers with a heavier serve and a more clinical pattern through the biggest exchanges.

The result left Mensik as the last of the young men left in Alexander Zverev’s half of the draw, setting up a semifinal that now looks like a gatekeeping match for the sport’s next tier. Mensik has already shown he can outplay a peer in a high-voltage setting; the harder question is whether that same composure and serve quality can now threaten the established elite, including Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, when the stakes rise again.