#NextGenATP Mensik outlasts Murray in Doha marathon, Rublev advances

A thrilling win against a former World No. 1, reaching a maiden ATP Tour quarter-final, and a move to the brink of the Top 100 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings.

Those achievements all featured in Jakub Mensik’s Wednesday at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open, where the #NextGenATP Czech overcame Andy Murray 7-6(6), 6-7(3), 7-6(4) in a remarkable second-round battle at the hard-court ATP 250 in Doha.

After twice failing to serve out the match as Murray roared back from 2-5 down in the third set, Mensik held firm to prevail after contesting his first deciding-set tie-break in a tour-level match. The 18-year-old finished having struck 18 winners including 12 aces, according to Infosys ATP Stats, as he found a way past the resilient Murray in three hours and 24 minutes.

Describe THIS match in one word ⤵️😲@QatarTennis | #QatarExxonMobilOpen pic.twitter.com/knyuHXQMeM

— ATP Tour (@atptour) February 21, 2024

“I’m just speechless right now, I don’t know what to say,” said Mensik, who will play top seed Andrey Rublev next, in his on-court interview. “I know that a lot of the fans wanted Andy to win today, so hopefully they will come to watch my match tomorrow.

“I’m just happy. It was a tough match today. Andy is an unbelievable player, I know that. When I was young, I watched him win Wimbledon two times, so it’s unbelievable that he can still compete with the best players in the world.”

Murray came so close to pulling off yet another remarkable comeback at an event where he last year notched two victories after saving match points. The Briton could not complete the job this time around, however, and he will be left to rue a missed backhand volley on the first of two set points he held from 6/4 in the opening-set tie-break.

Having also defeated Alejandro Davidovich Fokina on Tuesday, Mensik has now risen 14 places to No. 102 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings as a result of his Doha run so far.

“The first set it was tough with the conditions, the wind started a little bit," reflected Mensik, who is the third player born in 2005 or later to reach an ATP quarter-final after Dino Prizmic and Shang Juncheng. "The tie-break was not such good quality, and I was a little bit lucky in the end.

"In the third set I was 5-2, and then when it was 5-5 I just said, ‘Go on. This guy will not give me any points’. I tried to stay calm and in the tie-break I’m just super happy I stayed focused until the end.”

Rublev’s passage to the last eight could hardly have been more different to his next opponent Mensik’s. The top seed cruised past Richard Gasquet 6-3, 6-4 in just 57 minutes to reach his fourth quarter-final in as many events for 2024.

“I’m really happy to be able to win in straight sets,” said Rublev in his on-court interview. “It feels better than to have this stress with three sets and you don’t know how the match is going to go. It’s always nice to play shorter to be ready for tomorrow.”

The 2020 champion Rublev is now 11-4 in Doha. He will seek to improve that record in his maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head clash with Mensik, whose game he is not wholly familiar with.

“[Today is] the first time I saw him and I can tell that the guy is very talented,” said Rublev. “He’s really big already for his age and serves really hard. I think that the serve is one of his best weapons, from what I saw in the match against Andy. So we’ll see. He has strong strokes and tries to play aggressive. I have to prepare and be ready for tomorrow.”

A trio of other seeded players also booked their quarter-final spots on Wednesday in Doha, including Karen Khachanov, who downed Fabian Marozsan 6-4, 7-5 for his 250th tour-level win. The 27-year-old second seed Khachanov will next take on Emil Ruusuvuori, who beat Christopher O’Connell 6-3, 6-3.

Third seed Ugo Humbert raced past Pavel Kotov 6-4, 6-1 to set a match with his fellow Frenchman Gael Monfils, who beat Zhang Zhizhen 4-6, 7-5, 7-6(2) in two hours and 25 minutes. Fourth seed Alexander Bublik defeated Marton Fucsovics 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 to advance to face Alexei Popyrin. Australia's Popyrin saw off qualifier Hugo Grenier 7-6(3), 6-7(8), 6-1.