Sydney, Jan 5 (IANS) Jakub Mensik clinched Czechia’s victory over Norway at the United Cup on Monday, when he defeated Casper Ruud 7-5, 7-6(6).

Making his United Cup debut and playing his first match of the season, Mensik’s win followed Barbora Krejcikova’s victory over Malene Helgo, giving Czechia a 2-0 win in the Group D tie and eliminating Norway, which fell to 0-2 this week.

Mensik, 20, is the second-youngest man to record a singles win in United Cup history, behind 18-year-old Stefanos Sakellaridis in 2023.

Mensik held his nerve late in both sets, earning a crucial break at 5-5 in the opener before serving for a one-set advantage. Mensik later rebounded after failing to serve out the match at 5-4 in the second set.

He trailed 3/5 in the second-set tie-break but won five of the following six points to survive. The winner of last year’s ATP Masters 1000 event in Miami, Mensik, crushed a forehand pass cross-court when facing a set point at 5/6 in the second-set tie-break, according to ATP.

Earlier, two-time major singles champion Krejcikova made a winning United Cup debut, defeating Norway’s Helgo 6-4, 6-3.

The former World No. 2 enters the 2026 WTA Tour season ranked No. 65 in the WTA Rankings after another injury setback at the end of 2025.

She reached the quarter-finals of the US Open in September, a watershed moment in her season, which had only begun in May after a recurring back injury.

“I didn’t play for a long period, and the injury that I had was really tough and very unfortunate,” Krejcikova said. “I’m really happy that I’m here, that I can play, that I can enjoy it, that I can compete, and I’m really happy that I can finally finish a match.”

–IANS

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