ATP Tour

Mensik ousts fellow #NextGenATP talent Bernet in Basel debut

Jakub Mensik delivered a dose of drama on Monday at the Swiss Indoors Basel, where he overcame fearless home wild card Henry Bernet 35 minutes after missing his first match point.

The seventh seed carved out a 7-6(1), 6-7(7), 6-3 victory over the 18-year-old Bernet, the Basel native who was making his ATP Tour debut. After letting slip a match point in the second-set tie-break, Mensik used his experience to regroup and ultimately drowned out the crowd with a clutch serving display to earn his first win at the indoor hard-court ATP 500 event

“It was a really, really tough night. I’ve been in his [position] two years ago, and I know how it feels to be hungry and fight for every point, and I felt it from him today,” Mensik said after his first Lexus ATP Head2Head clash with Bernet. “He has such a huge game, a very aggressive style. One of his great things is his mental strength."

Bernet, who won this year’s Australian Open boys’ title, was aiming to become the youngest Swiss match winner in Basel since his idol and record 10-time champion Roger Federer — then 18 years old — in 1999. He outhit Mensik 27 winners to 23 over the first two sets, but struggled to cope with the Czech star once found his range.

Mensik won 94 per cent (15/16) of first-serve points and hit nine of his total 18 aces in the deciding set, according to Infosys ATP Stats. The No. 19 player in the PIF ATP Rankings awaits the winner of Tuesday’s popcorn match between defending champion Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard and #NextGenATP star Joao Fonseca.

In other action on Day 1 in Basel, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina notched his 25th hard-court win of the season by ousting Lorenzo Sonego 7-6(2), 6-4. The eighth-seeded Spaniard, who reached the final in Acapulco and Washington, now owns the seventh-most wins on the surface in 2025.

Davidovich Fokina will next face Jenson Brooksby, who needed just 67 minutes to move past Alexandre Muller 6-4, 6-3. Earlier, Jaume Munar eased past Swiss qualifier Remy Bertola 6-2, 6-4 and awaits a second-round meeting with last year’s finalist Ben Shelton or Kamil Majchrzak.