Jakub Mensik defeats Monfils in Doha to become first man born in 2005 or later to reach an ATP final

Czech teenager Jakub Mensik has made history in Doha, becoming the first man born in 2005 or later ever to reach an ATP final.

The 18-year-old, who had already pulled off a string of upset wins over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, Andy Murray and Andrey Rublev earlier in the week, continued his breakthrough run with a 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 semifinal victory over French veteran Gael Monfils on Friday night.

“It’s been an incredible week so far,” he said in his on-court interview. “Today again with Gael, he played unbelievable. I know it’s tough to play against him, especially with the movement, so for me every point I had to play my best game, and I have to say that this performance was one of my best in my entire life. I’m so glad I reached this level in the semis.

“Hopefully tomorrow I will play like this—that would be so beautiful.”

Standing between Mensik and the title will be Karen Khachanov, who defeated Alexei Popyrin in the first semifinal of the day, 7-6 (12), 6-2.

Just by reaching the semifinals, the No. 116-ranked Mensik had already guaranteed himself of another piece of history—he'll become the first man born in 2005 or later to reach the Top 100 on the ATP rankings.

After Mensik won the first set, it looked like Monfils was on his way to a comeback victory, not only rolling through the second set in 31 minutes, but—after falling behind an early break in the third—not only getting the break back, but almost breaking again with Mensik serving at 3-3, 0-30.

But Mensik caught fire one last time from there, winning 13 of the last 17 points of the match to run away with it right at the end.

Before Doha, the Czech teenager’s only two previous tour-level events came at the last two Grand Slams, reaching the third round of the US Open and the second round of the Australian Open. And it took Top 10 players to stop him both times, as he fell to a pair of No. 9s—Taylor Fritz and Hubert Hurkacz, respectively. He pushed Hurkacz to five sets.

If he can win his first career meeting against the No. 17-ranked Khachanov on Saturday, the 2005-born Mensik will make history again, becoming the first man born in 2005 or later to win an ATP title.