Mensik, Shelton reach Mallorca QFs
pCzech teen a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/jakub-mensik/m0ni/overview'Jakub Mensik/a advanced to his second tour-level quarter-final Wednesday when he defeated a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/fabio-fognini/f510/overview'Fabio Fognini/a at the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/mallorca/8994/overview'Mallorca Championships/a presented by Waterdrop./p
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One day after becoming the youngest match winner in tournament history by ousting defending champion a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/christopher-eubanks/e865/overview'Christopher Eubanks/a, the 18-year-old Mensik earned a second consecutive three-set victory, downing Fognini 4-6, 6-3, 7-5./p
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ldquo;Crazy match from the beginning,rdquo; said Mensik, World No. 85 in the PIF ATP Rankings. ldquo;The first 40 minutes, we played three games. I donrsquo;t know what happened, I didnrsquo;t experience this before. Irsquo;m really happy that I kept playing after the first set that I was 4-1 up and still lost. Irsquo;m really happy that I came back. Tough match. Fabio played really well. Difficult from the beginning.rdquo;/p
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In blustery conditions, Mensik struck 11 aces and won 80 per cent of his first-serve points, according to Infosys ATP Stats. He earned a decisive break at 5-5 in the decider and booked his quarter-final ticket after two hours, 40 minutes./p
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Mensik, who missed a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/roland-garros/520/overview'Roland Garros/a due to injury, strengthened his claim on second in the PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah. He is aiming for his maiden trip to the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/next-gen-atp-finals/7696/overview'Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF/a, which runs from 18-22 December in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia./p
pThe teen's previous quarter-final appearance came in Doha, where he became the youngest finalist in tournament history./p
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Mensik will next face fourth seed a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/alejandro-tabilo/te30/overview'Alejandro Tabilo/a, who earlier ousted a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/alexander-shevchenko/s0h2/overview'Alexander Shevchenko/a 6-3, 6-2. It will be their first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting./p
pFognini, 37, was playing his 800th tour-level match. The Italian holds a 420-380 career match record.nbsp;/ppTop seed a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/ben-shelton/s0s1/overview'Ben Shelton/a closed the day with a 6-4, 6-0 victory against Australian a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/rinky-hijikata/h0bh/overview'Rinky Hijikata/a, the American’s first grass win of the season and third overall on the surface./ppdiv
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The 21-year-old rushed Hijikata with his weight of shot and saved all six break points he faced. Shelton was aggressive on return, winning 67 per cent of his second-serve return points./pp
“It was a really fun match today. I’m happy to be back in Mallorca. I love playing here,” Shelton said. “I had a really tough first match here last year, losing 7-6 in the third [to eventual champion a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/christopher-eubanks/e865/overview'Christopher Eubanks/a], so I’m really happy to get my first win here. I’m really pleased with how I played today. I’m getting used to [grass] day by day.”/pp
Shelton, who won the 2022 NCAA singles title while at the University of Florida, will next meet another former collegiate champion in British qualifier a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/paul-jubb/j0a4/overview'Paul Jubb/a./pp
Jubb, 2019 NCAA singles titlist, raced past Australian a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/adam-walton/w09e/overview'Adam Walton/a 6-0, 6-3 to reach his first tour-level quarter-final. The 24-year-old was 0-4 in ATP Tour matches entering this week and will next look for the biggest win of his career against the World No. 14./p
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