US Open: Rising star Mensik outclasses Auger-Aliassime in big upset to reach second round

Jakub Mensik advanced to the second round of the US Open by outplaying Felix Auger-Aliassime, the No 19 seed, 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

18-year-old Mensik has enjoyed a breakout season, epitomised by his excellent run to the final of the Qatar Open back in February, taking out Monfils, Rublev and Murray on the way.

The Czech’s easy power and innate understanding of the sport has caught the attention of much of the tennis world across the course of this year, with another run to the semi-finals of the Croatia Open earlier this summer also of note.

Now, Mensik has notched just the second Grand Slam match win of his career by comprehensively outplaying the 19th seeded Auger-Aliassime to power his way through to the second round in some style.

For the Canadian, another early loss at the final Grand Slam of the year will come as a bitter blow after he had been appearing to make progress back towards some of his best form over the course of this summer.

Mensik, ranked No 65, will face the winner of the match between Australian wildcard Tristan Schoolkate and Japanese Taro Daniel next.

New York (Grand Slam), other first-round results (USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, hard, USD 75.000.000, most recent results first):

• Lorenzo Sonego vs. Tommy Paul
• Carlos Alcaraz vs. Li Tu
• Mattia Bellucci vs. Stan Wawrinka
• Fabian Marozsan vs. Hamad Medjedovic
• Zizou Bergs vs. Pavel Kotov
• Flavio Cobolli vs. James Duckworth
• Jaume Munar vs. Gabriel Diallo
• Christopher O’Connell vs. Nicolas Jarry
• Matteo Arnaldi vs. Zachary Svajda
• Corentin Moutet vs. Sebastian Korda
• Facundo Diaz Acosta vs. Hugo Gaston
• Denis Shapovalov vs. Botic van de Zandschulp
• Max Purcell vs. Aleksandar Vukic
• Arthur Fils vs. Learner Tien
• Alex De Minaur vs. Marcos Giron
• Dusan Lajovic vs. Daniil Medvedev
• Nuno Borges vs. Federico Coria
• Zhizhen Zhang vs. Jack Draper
• Jannik Sinner vs. Mackenzie McDonald
• Borna Coric vs. Adrian Mannarino
• Matthew Forbes vs. Roman Safiullin
• Eliot Spizzirri vs. Alex Michelsen: tuesday
• Daniel Evans vs. Karen Khachanov: tuesday
• Otto Virtanen vs. Quentin Halys: tuesday
• Fabio Fognini vs. Tomas Machac: tuesday
• Alejandro Tabilo vs. David Goffin: tuesday
• Timofey Skatov vs. Hubert Hurkacz: tuesday
• Jordan Thompson beat Constant Lestienne: 6-1, 6-3, 6-2
• Mariano Navone vs. Daniel Altmaier: tuesday
• Tristan Schoolkate vs. Taro Daniel: tuesday
• Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. Thanasi Kokkinakis: tuesday
• Novak Djokovic (2) beat Radu Albot (Q): 6-2, 6-2, 6-4
• Tallon Griekspoor beat Sumit Nagal: 6-1, 6-3, 7-6 (6)
• Arthur Cazaux beat Pablo Carreno Busta: 6-1, 6-3, 6-3
• Laslo Djere beat Jan-Lennard Struff: 6-7 (7), 6-1, 6-7 (7), 6-4, 6-2
• Frances Tiafoe (20) beat Aleksandar Kovacevic: 6-4, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5
• Sebastian Baez (21) beat Luciano Darderi: 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-0, 7-6 (4)
• Brandon Nakashima beat Holger Rune (15): 6-2, 6-1, 6-4
• Rinky Hijikata beat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina: 7-6 (1), 3-6, 6-4, 6-3
• Arthur Rinderknech beat Christopher Eubanks (WC): 6-4, 4-6, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (8)
• Alexander Shevchenko beat Dominik Koepfer: 6-3, 7-5, 5-7, 6-2
• Grigor Dimitrov (9) beat Kyrian Jacquet (Q): 6-3, 6-4, 6-2
• Alexandre Muller (WC) beat Adam Walton: 3-6, 7-6 (7), 6-3, 6-4
• Gael Monfils beat Diego Schwartzman (Q): 6-7 (2), 6-2, 6-2, 6-1
• Tomas Martin Etcheverry beat Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard: 6-4, 6-2, 6-3
• Miomir Kecmanovic beat Yoshihito Nishioka: 7-6 (2), 2-6, 5-7, 7-5, 1-0 ret.
• Francisco Cerundolo (29) beat Sebastian Ofner: 5-7, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2
• Lorenzo Musetti (18) beat Reilly Opelka: 7-6 (3), 1-6, 6-1, 7-5
• Jiri Lehecka (32) beat Marton Fucsovics: 1-6, 6-4, 6-3, 3-0 ret.
• Taylor Fritz (12) beat Camilo Ugo Carabelli: 7-5, 6-1, 6-2
• Andrey Rublev (6) beat Thiago Seyboth Wild: 6-3, 7-6 (3), 7-5
• Pedro Martinez Portero beat Maks Kasnikowski (Q): 6-7 (6), 6-1, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (6)
• Alexei Popyrin (28) beat SoonWoo Kwon: 7-5, 6-2, 6-3
• Casper Ruud (8) beat Yunchaokete Bu (Q): 7-6 (2), 6-2, 6-2
• Matteo Berrettini beat Albert Ramos-Vinolas: 7-6 (2), 6-2, 6-3
• Ben Shelton (13) beat Dominic Thiem (WC): 6-4, 6-2, 6-2
• Ugo Humbert (17) beat Thiago Monteiro: 6-3, 6-4, 6-4
• Juncheng Shang beat Alexander Bublik (27): 6-4, 3-6, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4
• Roberto Bautista Agut beat Luca Nardi: 7-5, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5)
• Mitchell Krueger (Q) beat Hugo Grenier (Q): 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-5
• Alexander Zverev (4) beat Maximilian Marterer (LL): 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-2
• Francisco Comesana beat Dominic Stricker: 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-3
• Roberto Carballes Baena beat Jan Choinski (Q): 6-2, 6-3, 5-7, 6-7 (5), 6-3