Top-seeds advance into quarterfinals
Doha- The tournament's top three seeds, Andrey Rublev, Felix Auger-Aliassime, and Daniil Medvedev, unsurprisingly, made it into the quarterfinals alongside two-time champion Andy Murray, while defending champion Roberto Bautista Agut was knocked out at the end of another electrifying day at the Khalifa International Tennis & Squash Complex yesterday.
Rublev, the 2020 champion, came back from a set down to beat in-form Tallon Griekspoor 1-6, 6-1, 7-6(6) in 1 hour, 52 minutes to set up a quarterfinal clash against Jiri Lehecka, who defeated Finn Emil Ruusuvuori 6-2, 7-6 (2).
Lehecka is yet to drop a set so far after beating both Damir Dzumhur and Emil Ruusuvuori with second-set tiebreaks, and world No. 52 looks well capable of providing the upset in their encounter.
Meanwhile, Auger-Aliassime advanced to the quarterfinals after defeating Jason Kubler 4-6, 6-1, and 6-4 in two hours and 16 minutes. With the victory, Auger-Aliassime avenged his 2022 Newport Open defeat by Kubler to make it 1-1 in their head-to-head count. Auger-Aliassime will next be up against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, the seventh-seed, who defeated Soonwoo Kwon 6-3, 6-2.
Medvedev, on the other hand, won in straight sets (6-4, 6-3) against Liam Broady to set up a next round clash with Christopher O'Connell, who sensationally knocked out defending champion Roberto Bautista Agut, the fifth-seed, 6-3, 6(5)-7, 4-6.
Andy Murray, the 2008 and 2009 champion, took another step towards making history as the first three-time winner in Doha after overcoming Alexander Zverev, the fourth-seed, 7-6(5), 2-6, 7-5, in a thriller that lasted more than three hours.
The three-time Grand Slam winner will next face Alexandre Muller, who staged a straight sets 6-2, 6-4 upset against eight-seed Botic Van De Zandschulp, in the quarterfinals.
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