In the first round of the Australian Open, the recent ASB Classic champion in Auckland, Jakub Menšík, will face former world No. 10 Pablo Carreño Busta.
Jakub Menšík
But now it is Jakub Menšík who is closing in on the top 10, not Pablo Carreño Busta, who is already fading from the tennis scene: Jakub is ranked 17th, while Pablo is 94th. The victory in New Zealand did not bring the young player any significant rise in the rankings. As for the Australian Open, he achieved his best result there last season, reaching the third round. To avoid slipping down, he at the very least needs to defend those points.
Pablo Carreño Busta
Pablo Carreño Busta reached his peak in September 2017, when he advanced to the US Open semi-finals, and in April 2023 he was still ranked as high as No. 17. However, over the past six months he has dropped sharply because of a chronic injury to his right elbow. Unlike Menšík, at the 2026 ASB Classic in Auckland, the Spaniard did not even make it through the first round of qualifying, losing to Vít Kopřiva, who was only No. 100 in the rankings (3:6, 6:1, 4:6).
Jakub Menšík vs Pablo Carreño Busta Prediction
Pablo Carreño Busta has reached the fourth round of the Australian Open three times, but that now looks an unrealistic goal for the 34-year-old. In 2025 Jakub Menšík beat him, though not without difficulty, in the Davis Cup (7:5, 6:4), and a year ago in the same Auckland tournament, the ASB Classic, the Czech repeated the success (6:2, 4:6, 7:5). We believe he will win again this time.
