Karatsev Sweeps Into Doha Second Round, Now Plays Thiem
Aslan Karatsev returned to winning ways at the Khalifa International Tennis & Squash Complex in Doha on Monday. Two months on from winning three matches at the venue to qualify for the Australian Open in Melbourne, where he reached the semi-finals (l. to Djokovic), the Russian swept past fellow wild card Mubarak Shannan Zayid 6-4, 6-0 in 65 minutes at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open.
Karatsev won 24 of 27 first-service points and now plays top-seeded Austrian Dominic Thiem in the second round at the ATP 250 event. Thiem is competing in his first tournament since a fourth-round exit at the Australian Open (l. to Dimitrov).
[WATCH LIVE 1]Richard Gasquet, the 2013 champion, eased past qualifier Blaz Rola 6-4, 6-4 for his first victory of the season. The Frenchman will next play red-hot Russian Andrey Rublev.
“Of course it’s great for me to come here… I have great memories playing here. It’s one of the best tournaments in the world, so of course it’s great for me to come back and I hope to play good,” Gasquet said in an on-court interview. “I know the next opponent will be tough, but I have nothing to lose and I’ll try my best to win.”
Kazakhstani wild card Alexander Bublik will take on fifth-seeded Spaniard and 2019 champion Roberto Bautista Agut or American Reilly Opelka after knocking out Indian qualifier Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-4, 6-2 in 73 minutes. Bublik has already reached two ATP Tour finals this year at the Antalya Open (l. to De Minaur) and the Singapore Tennis Open (l. to Popyrin).
American Taylor Fritz took a 2-1 lead in his ATP Head2Head series with Lorenzo Sonego by beating the Italian 7-6(5), 6-4. Elsewhere, Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili snapped a five-match losing streak by beating John Millman of Australia 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 in one hour and 52 minutes. Basilashvili will next wild card Malek Jaziri of Tunisia or Slovakian lucky loser Norbert Gombos.