Popyrin into Doha quarter-finals but O'Connell bows out

Sydney’s Alexei Popyrin has made his way into the quarter-finals of the Qatar Open in Doha.

Alexei Popyrin has taken full advantage of a kind draw to battle into the quarter-finals of the Qatar Open in Doha – but his fellow Sydneysider Chris O’Connell has been knocked out in the last-16.

Popyrin, in his first tournament since getting knocked out by Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open, scrapped into the last-eight by defeating Hugo Grenier, a qualifier ranked 105 places below him, on Wednesday.

Not that the French underdog, an unexpected figure in the last-16 after world No.21 Tallon Griekspoor’s withdrawal in the previous round had opened up a golden opportunity for him, was prepared to make life too easy for Australia’s world No.46.

Indeed, the 27-year-old proved a real handful for ‘Poppy’ to subdue at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex before he prevailed 7-6 (7-3) 6-7 (8-10) 6-1 in a battle that lasted over two-and-a-half hours.

Grenier, the world No.151, even saved a match point en route to levelling affairs in the second-set tiebreak, suggesting Popyrin would be in for a tough decider.

But it didn’t turn out that way as the 24-year-old reeled off the last five games in a row to set up a last-eight date with Alexander Bublik, the unpredictable Kazakh fourth seed, who beat Hungarian Marton Fucsovics 2-6 6-3 6-4.

It’s not a bad match-up for Popyrin, who has happy memories of playing – and beating – Bublik in his first ATP final in Singapore in 2021.

Meanwhile, O’Connell, who had downed big-hitting German Jan-Lennard Struff in the previous round, met his match in the last-16 against Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori, losing 6-3 6-3.

Ever the battler, O’Connell saved five match points in the final game before Ruusuvuori, the world No.43 finally saw him off.

Andy Murray’s first win of the year on Tuesday was swiftly followed by more anti-climax as the veteran British former world No.1 lost 7-6 (8-6) 6-7 (3-7) 7-6 (7-4) to 18-year-old Czech riser Jakub Mensik.

The 37-year-old Murray keeps saying he is not about to retire after a terrible run of results but at one point during his latest deflating loss, was evidently so frustrated with himself against the teenager that he appeared to shout to his team: “This game is not for me any more.”

The player they might all have to beat this week in Qatar could be Andrey Rublev, who looked in blistering form as he overpowered French veteran Richard Gasquet 6-3 6-4.

Rublev’s Russian pal Karen Khachanov also looked in good shape as he landed the 250th tour-level win of his career by beating Hungarian Fabian Marozsan 6-4 7-5.