MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Talk about an upset.

Jakub Mensik, ranked 54th, bested the No. 17 overall player in Arthur Fils by a score of 7-6, 6-1 in the Miami Open quarterfinal, a stunning upset for the teenager from the Czech Republic.

“I was feeling really great,” Mensik said Thursday, later adding “the rhythm” and “physicality” were the keys to his success.

Mensik had Fils running for his life from the very beginning. The 19-year-old’s serves often couldn’t be returned in play as Fils often found himself running from baseline to baseline. Mensik himself finished with 13 aces to Fils’ one.

“It’s hard work and a lot of serves, a lot of drills, which during the match, I feel pretty confident and it’s my big weapon,” Mensik said.

By the end, the French 20-year-old looked as if he had ran out of gas — likely due to having played less than 24 hours prior. Mensik, meanwhile, hadn’t played since Sunday.

“Arthur is really good in the readies,” Mensik said. “He’s running so fast so it was really, really important to keep him moving and to play aggressive, baseline tennis.”

In his run to the semifinals, Mensik has now beaten a total of three players ranked in the top 25 — Jack Draper (No. 6) in the second round, Tomas Machac (No. 20) in the fourth round and now Fils.

“Just go win,” Mensik said of his mindset. “I’m always trying to play my best tennis so of course I don’t mind if there is a guy who is top 100 or top 20. Of course there’s a difference — you can see it in how is he playing — but for me, my mindset is always the same.”

Unfortunately, the upset aura didn’t really last into the women’s match as the No. 1 ranked Arena Sabalenka took care of seventh-seeded Jasmine Paolini 6-2, 6-2 to advance to her first Miami Open final.

“This was one of the best matches of the season so far,” Sabalenka said.

Sabalenka dominated from the very beginning and came in clutch when she needed it most as she won 80% (4 of 5) of her break points.

“Everything was just going smoothly my way,” the 26-year-old from Belarus said.

In her journey to the finals, Sabalenka beat Viktoriya Tomova (No. 64), Elena-Gabriela Ruse (No. 102), Danielle Collins (No. 15) and Qinwen Zheng (No. 9) before her most recent victory over Paolini.

With his victory, Mensik will face Taylor Fritz (No. 4), a 7-5, 6-7 (7-9), 7-5 winner over Matteo Berrettini (No. 30). Sabalenka will face whoever wins between the fourth-ranked Jessica Peluga or rising, teenage star Alexandra Eala. A Sabalenka-Pegula face-off would be a rematch of what turned out to be a rather riveting U.S. Open final in 2024 that ended in the Belarusian’s favor.

As for her approach to each player, Sabalenka wants to put the onus on herself rather than her opponent.

“I’ll make sure that I focus on myself not on that side,” Sabalenka said. “I hope I’ll be able to bring my best tennis and get the trophy.”

©2025 Miami Herald. Visit miamiherald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.