De Minaur out to go one better against Alcaraz in Doha

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De Minaur out to go one better against Alcaraz in Doha

Alex de Minaur will face former Wimbledon quarter-finalist Roman Safiullin as he sets off on his quest to go one better than in Rotterdam and set up another ATP 500 tournament final showdown at the Qatar Open with Carlos Alcaraz.

De Minaur has been seeded No.2 in the Doha hardcourt event, with Spain’s top-seeded Alcaraz again his principal hurdle, as the pair set off on their quest to meet each other in a final for the second time in the space of a fortnight.

But there’s no guarantees in what looks a loaded field – even in the absence of now banned world No.1 Jannik Sinner – with Alcaraz scheduled to meet Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals in what would be their first clash since their quarter-final epic at the *********** Open, won by the Serb.

De Minaur, who lost the Rotterdam final in three sets to world No.3 Alcaraz, will open his Qatar campaign on Tuesday against Russian world No.70 Safiullin, who’s endured a tough start to the season, losing all his three tour-level matches, including a four-setter against Thanasi Kokkinakis at the *********** Open.

Djokovic, who ended up pulling out of his semi-final with Alexander Zverev with a hamstring tear, has a fiendish first-round clash on his return against the man he beat in the 2021 Wimbledon final, Matteo Berrettini, while Alcaraz meets 2014 US Open champ Marin Cilic in his opener.

There’ll be three *********** men in the main draw, after Chris O’Connell booked his place alongside de Minaur and Alexei Popyrin by battling through his final qualifying round on Sunday.

The Sydneysider O’Connell, who made a hugely encouraging start to the season when he pushed the then world No.11 Tommy Paul to five sets in the *********** Open, defeated Russian Pavel Kotov 6-4 6-2.

It set him up for a first-round clash in Doha on Monday with wildcard Hady Habib, the Lebanese who made history in Melbourne by becoming the first man from his country to play in and win a grand slam singles.

Should he prevail, O’Connell could potentially meet Popyrin in all-Sydney second round match, but world No.26 ‘Poppy’ has a tough ask in his first round on Monday against eighth seed, Britain’s rising star Jack Draper.

Popyrin, who had a breakthrough 2024 campaign with his surprise triumph in the ********* Open, has had an injury and illness-hit start to 2025, and is yet to win a tour-level match this year in his three events.

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