For 19 minutes, Alex de Minaur’s third-round match-up with Jakub Mensik went according to the script.
The narrative for their Roland-Garros showdown was logical enough.
De Minaur received a walkover to the last 32 to escape the Parisian heatwave, whereas Mensik suffered as much as anyone not named Jannik Sinner in a four-hour, 41-minute victory that ended with him afflicted by full-body cramps and being carted off in a wheelchair.
A date with the tenacious Australian off that preparation seemed far from ideal for the Czech, who laboured through an error-riddled start and failed to win a game or hit a single winner in dropping the opening set.
But everything changed from the time Mensik trudged back onto Court Simonne-Mathieu from a lengthy off-court break.
There were condescending cheers for Mensik, who had won just one set off de Minaur in five previous meetings, when he finally held serve to win his first game – but no one realised the racquet fireworks that were to come.
The 20-year-old emerging star spent the next two hours blasting de Minaur off the court, on his way to a dominant 0-6, 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 victory over the tournament’s eighth seed.
This year’s claycourt major is fast becoming a platform for the tour’s next generation to announce themselves, with Mensik reaching the last 16 in Paris for the first time, hours after 19-year-old Spaniard Rafael Jodar outlasted Alex Michelsen in five sets to do the same.
Another teenager, Brazilian Joao Fonseca, followed them after rallying from a two-set deficit – and being down a break in the fifth set – to stun 24-time grand slam champion Novak Djokovic 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 7-5.
This event was viewed as a prime opportunity for Djokovic to finally win his elusive 25th major title, with Sinner eliminated and Carlos Alcaraz sidelined with a wrist injury, but instead he lost before the quarter-finals in Paris for the first time since 2009.
Mensik finished with 33 winners to de Minaur’s 21. But just as telling was the world No.7’s uncharacteristically high 39 unforced errors, which illustrated just how much pressure he felt from Mensik’s belligerent ball-striking.
“It was a difficult day for me, obviously, from all of the sides – physically, mentally, after struggling in the last match. Basically, I had zero energy coming back here in this heat,” Mensik said.
“It’s never easy, especially against Alex. He’s a fighter; he’s not giving you any point for free. I never beat him in my life, so it’s been a difficult time for me, but overall, I’m super happy that I was mentally here, mentally on the court, physically stable, and I’m happy that I can leave the court by my own [without a wheelchair].”
De Minaur never gave up and audibly tried to urge himself on after points won, but Mensik’s sky-high level rarely dipped in the final three sets.
As a result, the Australian could regularly be seen looking helplessly towards his coaches Adolfo Gutierrez and Matt Reid as he searched for solutions.
De Minaur can be prone to these kinds of matches, where a bigger, stronger and more powerful opponent throttles him and leaves him unable to turn the tide.
Jodar did the same to him in a 6-3, 6-1 mauling in Madrid last month.
Mensik’s sustained attack on de Minaur included a period starting from the second game of the second set that he faced at least one break point in six consecutive service games. He went from up a set, to losing the second in lopsided fashion then trailing 4-0 in the third set by the end of that streak.
There was no coming back from there, as hard as de Minaur tried.
He feigned but resisted the temptation to throw his racquet when falling 0-40 behind in the eighth game of the third set – then double-faulting to lose the set – but destroyed it after a missed opportunity at 2-4 down in the fourth.
With time running out, de Minaur finally had a small opening on Mensik’s serve after the Czech double-faulted to slip back to deuce.
He had the chance to whip a backhand past Mensik at the net, but his younger rival produced a rock-solid volley that whistled past the enraged Australian, who knew his last opportunity may have passed him by. The French crowd showered de Minaur with boos, as is their wont.
Mensik again went to deuce while bidding to serve for a spot in the fourth round, but another loose de Minaur forehand brought up match point – and he needed just one.
De Minaur’s loss ends Australia’s contention in the men’s singles, but he will be delighted to leave the red dirt behind for his beloved grass-courts, swapping his least-preferred surface for his favourite.
Wimbledon is now calling.
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