WATCH the Miami Open LIVE in Australia on beIN SPORTS | Subscribe here and take advantage of our 7-day FREE TRIAL

The 19-year-old Czech, who came into the tournament at No.54 in the world rankings, is the third-lowest-ranked finalist in tournament history, and he got there on the back of an incredible barrage of 25 aces, plus some gutsy play in two tiebreaks that effectively won him a tight match.

Mensik will play Djokovic, whom he has named as his inspiration for chasing a career in professional tennis, in the final on Monday (AEDT), looking to even up their head-to-head after he lost to the Serbian great at the Shanghai Masters last year.

Asked about how it will be for him to play his hero, who will be going for his 100th professional title, Mensik said: "It feels incredible. Unbelievable for me.

"It was a dream for me to play against him in Shanghai. Now it's a bit different. I'm a better player now than I was in Shanghai, so I'm going to enjoy it.

"It's going to be really exciting and I'm really looking forward to competing against him. Let's see what's going to happen on Sunday [Monday AEDT]."

Mensik won the first set in that Shanghai quarter-final via a tiebreak, but coughed up the next two sets to lose. After winning the first set against Fritz in similar fashion but then losing the second, he might have feared the same fate, but he proved too resilient for the American ultimately.

"It was pretty tough for both of us on the return, you know, because we were serving really great today," Mensik said.

"He didn't give me an opportunity to break him, so it was in the tiebreaks for me to stay focused and show my best performance in the tiebreaks."

Mensik also revealeed that the key to his victory might have been not washing his hands after shaking hands with football great Lionel Messi ahead of the match.

The Argentina and Inter Miami star was spotted spectating in the stands for Djokovic's semi-final and was there again to see Mensik do his thing.

"I was shaking his hand and I was chilling with him for a bit, and I didn't wash my hand before I step on the court, and probably that was the key for today," Mensik joked.