From attending first Laver Cup at 12, Jakub Mensik wins debut with Roger Federer watching

Jakub Mensik won a battle of rookies in the second match of the 2025 Laver Cup, the Miami Open champion edging through a match tiebreaker to defeat Alex Michelsen, 6-1, 6-7 (3), 10-8 to increase Team Europe’s lead to 2-0 over Team World.

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For Mensik, it was a full circle victory in more ways than one: the 20-year-old attended the first-ever Laver Cup as a 12-year-old fan in 2017.

“I was hoping to see Roger and Rafa play together,” Mensik recalled on court after the match.

“On the second day, I got lucky that they played the same on the court. It’s been a pleasure watching them and playing a few years after, here on the same court. Actually, Roger is watching me! It’s pretty cool.”

With Federer in the stands on Friday, Mensik rolled through the opening set with the loss of just one game and was on course for a second straight-forward win of the afternoon when Michelsen, a former junior rival, broke the Czech star as he served for the match.

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“We know each other since juniors, so we knew a lot about ourselves on the court,” Mensik explained. “With this format, with the match tiebreaker, it’s always tough for your nerves but I’m happy that I stayed focused to the end and I kept fighting for every point. I’m glad that I helped my team to take a point.”

Michelsen needed to win a second Sudden Death to pull off the comeback but Mensik proved too strong in the key moments, remaining in front for the bulk of the ‘breaker to build on the lead set by Casper Ruud over Reilly Opelka.

“Obviously, it’s great to play in front of this beautiful crowd,” Mensik said of the Chase Arena crowd. “So, it’s been a pleasure.”

Team Europe captain Yannick Noah then took the court for his first post-match interview of the weekend, saluting the fans and crediting his team for making it through two tense matches.

“A little too nervous,” joked the former Roland Garros champion. “It’s not good for my heart. But these games were so close. The first match was fantastic, very close. It came down to a couple points. Same for today. I hope you guys had a good time watching this wonderful tennis.”

Team World will look to get on the board in the third singles match of the day, with Brazilian teenager Joao Fonseca making his Laver Cup debut against Team Europe’s Flavio Cobolli. Day 1 will conclude with a men’s doubles clash between Carlos Alcaraz-Alexander Zverev and Taylor Fritz-Alex Michelsen.