Qatari traditions: how Medvedev beat reigning Doha champion Khachanov

Karen Khachanov dominated the first set against Daniil Medvedev at the start of the Doha tournament, was almost perfect in the second, but lost the game on his serve at 5-6. The Russian number one earned his first win of the season over a top-30 player, while Karen suffered his third straight defeat. Khachanov's disappointing season continues, while Medvedev will face his next opponent - Belgian Zizou Bergs, who is in excellent form. Andrey Rublev, who has also reached the second round, will face Nuno Borges, whom he beat in Basel last year. With luck, our tennis players can play each other in the semifinals.

In front of Wenger's eyes

The tournament in Qatar has a long tradition. In the first edition in 1993, Boris Becker and Goran Ivanisevic played in the final, and many world number one players (from Stefan Edberg to Novak Djokovic) have won the tournament over the years. For the Russians, this tournament can be considered a success. In 2010, the Qatar Open was won by Nikolay Davydenko, who defeated Rafael Nadal in the final (twice more Davydenko reached the deciding match in 2011 and 2013). Rublev took the title in 2020, while the last two champions were Medvedev and Khachanov. In 2023, Daniil beat Andy Murray in the final, and last year Karen beat Fabian Marozhan, Emil Ruusuvuori, Alexei Popyrin and Jakub Menszyk in succession.

This year Medvedev and Khachanov met in the first round. The rivals have never met at such an early stage before. Last year, Karen was stronger than Daniil in the 1/8 of the Masters in Monte Carlo. It was quite realistic to build on that success. Medvedev is not at his best.

After the Australian Open 2025, he parted ways with one of his coaches, Gilles Simon, and it seems he came to Doha without his longtime mentor Gilles Servard. At least the French specialist was absent from the tennis player's box. But the famous soccer coach Arsene Wenger, who is in Qatar on FIFA business, came to the match. The Arsenal legend appeared in the stands before the start of the second set and missed a lot.

The first game was bright on beautiful moments and impressive kambaks. The fifth game on Medvedev's serve lasted ten minutes. Daniil was losing 0:40, but he won three break points and then three more on "even" (3:2). It seemed to be a good moment to take the lead, but it turned out the other way around. In the next game, the Russian number one couldn't win an easy smash and got discouraged. Khachanov immediately took advantage of that. First, he took his serve easily, and then took the lead with his first break point (his seventh in the set).

Medvedev was taking his opponent's serve very deep, and it finally paid off. He led 30-0 in the eighth game and seemed to have a chance for a break back. However, Khachanov turned on his first serve and won four games in a row. After that, Karen had to serve for the set, but it just didn't work out. Daniil won the opening two games again, but never got to his first break point. Karen won the first set point, and Daniel immediately went to the dressing room.

After his return, the game changed a lot. Both players were so good at putting the ball into play that they won their serves lightning fast. The first three games were taken dry, and Daniel won the first service game when he was losing 40-0. However, this did not prevent Karen from equalizing the score (2:2). Medvedev was angered by powerlessness. First he hit the ball into the wall, getting a ricochet back, and then he smashed his racket.

This made Daniil angry, and he began to cling to his opponent's serve time after time. However, he reached his first break point only in the 12th game, when everyone was already preparing for a tie-break. Medvedev won a protracted 30:30 game, and on the break point he waited for one of Khachanov's few unforced errors. Daniil took the showdown into the third set, where he showed that he can still play superbly on hard court.

Will Rubleva get revenge for Safiullin?

Daniil served perfectly, turned on the Octopus mode and won almost all the long shenanigans. At 2:1 Daniil made a break. At 4:1, Karen won three break points and still stayed in the game. But not for long. In the next game Medvedev took his game to zero with two aces (5:2). Khachanov did not let up and extended the battle for another 10 minutes, but there was no way to turn the tide of a disappointing set.

Khachanov drops two positions in the Live rankings (from 21st to 23rd), having lost 250 points. After his defeat to Alex Michelsen in Melbourne, Karen is still unable to win on tour. Medvedev, on the other hand, can return to the top-5 if he can take the title in Qatar.

However, he needs to beat Zizou Bergs first. The Belgian reached the semifinals in Marseille last week, losing to eventual winner Hugo Umbert. In Doha, Bergs shut out Roberto Bautista-Agut in two sets, using much less effort than Medvedev. However, if Daniil plays against Zizou as he did in the third game against Khachanov, he should have no problems.

Daniil was joined in the 1/8 finals by Andrey Rublev, who defeated Alexander Bublik in 70 minutes. The 27-year-old Muscovite realized three break points out of five and got off to a solid start in Qatar. Next he will play Nunu Borges, who had no problems with Otto Virtanen in the first round.

Roman Safiullin also played on Tuesday, February 18. The Podolsk native failed to make a sensation, losing in two sets to second seed Alex de Minaur. Next up for the Australian is Botik van de Zandshulp. And in a potential quarterfinal with the winner of the Rublev-Borges pair.