Jack Draper's bid for a Sunshine Double begins with Saturday's second-round contest at the Miami Open against Jakub Mensik.
The Czech player defeated veteran Roberto Bautista Agut in three sets, setting up a first meeting with the British No. 1 on the ATP Tour, and the teenager aims for a deep run in Florida on his tournament debut.
Match preview
© Imago
Having failed to progress through qualifying 12 months ago, Mensik made his Miami Open debut against veteran Bautista Agut on Thursday.
The 19-year-old successfully navigated the challenge, defeating the Spaniard 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 in one hour and 53 minutes to set up this weekend's encounter with the British No. 1.
The teenager, whose victory marked his ninth at tour-level events in 2025 and 12th overall this season, seeks to enter double figures in ATP Tour wins and improve his 12-7 record this year.
However, the world No. 54 has not secured consecutive wins on the tour since January, when he notched victories over Nikoloz Basilashvili and Casper Ruud to advance to the third round of the first Grand Slam of 2025.
Defeating Ruud was Mensik's fifth top-10 victory of his budding career, and the talented player aspires to a sixth by upsetting the latest addition to the elite group.
© Iconsport
Draper's exploits in California propelled him into the top 10 on the men's tour, a splendid reward for the 23-year-old, who claimed his third and most significant title in Indian Wells.
That Masters 1000 triumph included a valiant victory over three-peat-chasing Carlos Alcaraz, whose ambition to emulate Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic was halted by the left-handed player.
Hoping to avoid the ignominy of losing his first match as a top-10 player, the sixth seed could achieve only his third career triumph in Miami, where he holds a 2-3 record entering this year's tournament.
Draper has never gone beyond the second round at the Miami Open (2022, 2024), which appears achievable this time as he seeks a seventh victory in a row to improve his 13-2 win-loss record this season.
Only Alcaraz (Australian Open) and Andrey Rublev (Doha) have bested the 23-year-old in 2025, with the Brit forced to retire in the former match and falling to the Russian star in the title clash in the Middle East, highlighting the three-time titlist's consistency in the opening quarter of the year.
The world No. 7, favourite to advance at Mensik's expense, aims to avoid an early exit to set up a third-round meeting with Alexei Popyrin or Roman Safiullin.
Tournament so far
Jakub Mensik:
First round: vs. Roberto Bautista Agut 6-4 3-6 6-1
Jack Draper:
First round: Bye
Head To Head
Mouilleron-le-Captif CH (2023) - Round of 32: Draper 6-4 6-2
Although Draper defeated Mensik on the Challenger Tour two years back, both players face off for the first time on the men's tour, with the victor taking a 1-0 lead in their head-to-head.
Mensik is 5-5 against top-10 opponents, with last year's wins over Grigor Dimitrov (Madrid, Shanghai) and Rublev (Shanghai) achieved at Masters 1000 events, before stunning Ruud at the opening Grand Slam of 2025.
However, he enters Saturday's match with a 3-5 record against left-handed players, although this year's victory over Ben Shelton in Auckland snapped a five-match losing streak against such opponents.
We say: Draper to win in two sets
It is difficult to envisage anything other than a Draper victory here, with the sixth seed expected to secure a seventh straight win to progress to round three.
The British player, boasting a 20-1 record against players outside the top 50, should further extend his 16-match winning streak against that group for a third-round berth in Miami.
