Nineteen-year-old Czech Jakub Menšík beat his childhood idol Novak Djokovic 7-6(4), 7-6(4) in an upset for the ages, claiming his first ATP title at the Miami Open as he denied the former number one in his bid for a milestone 100th.
The 54th-ranked Menšík faced tough odds in only his second ATP final but harnessed his best weapon to subdue the 24-times major winner with 14 aces and collapsed onto the court, overcome with emotion, after sealing it with an unreturnable serve.
The oldest ever to reach a Masters 1000 final, 37-year-old Djokovic had hoped to join Jimmy Connors (109) and Roger Federer (103) as the only three men in the Open era with 100 or more titles but ran out of steam in the end.
Djokovic arrived on the court after several hours of rain delays with swelling near his right eye and appeared off-kilter as he handed Menšík a break with a clumsy shot out of bounds in the second game and slipped and fell in the fifth.
The Serb levelled it in the seventh but boiled over with frustration as Menšík got off to a 5-0 head start in the tiebreak, fuming at his box, where his former rival-turned-coach Andy Murray sat stone-faced.
The Czech held his nerve, meanwhile, and pumped his fist with satisfaction as he clinched the set with an overhead smash.
The two players battled toe-to-toe in a thrilling second set, where Menšík used his speed to his advantage to neutralise Djokovic’s fine drop shots at the net.
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Djokovic had his veteran survival instincts on display as he fended off two break points in the fifth game but gradually showed the wear-and-tear of the match before collapsing from exhaustion after a 21-shot rally in the tiebreak.
