Czech teenager Jakub Mencic beats top seed Andre Rublev in Qatar Open. tennis news

Czech teenager Jakub Mencic defeated top seed Andre Rublev in straight sets at the Qatar Open on Thursday to reach his first ATP semi-final and cement a place in the world top 100 for the first time. A day after defeating three-time Grand Slam title winner Andy Murray, the 18-year-old registered a 6-4, 7-6 (8/6) win against fifth-ranked Rublev. “It’s been an incredible week. From the beginning I played very well and I knew I could play with the big players. It’s an amazing feeling to beat those good players and reach the semi-finals,” said wildcard Mencic, who was there The bay was reached in 116th place.

“But the work is not done yet. Hopefully I can play like this again in the semi-finals and reach the final.”

With his one-hour, 38-minute victory on Thursday, Mencich became the youngest player to defeat a top-five player since Carlos Alcaraz defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas at the 2021 US Open.

Mencich will face 2018 champion Gael Monfils for a place in the final on Saturday after the veteran defeated third seed Ugo Humbert 6-2, 6-4 to win the all-French encounter.

Monfils is the oldest semi-finalist in Qatar tournament history at the age of 37 years and five months.

In the other semi-final, Australia’s Alexey Popyrin will face second seed Karen Khachanov of Russia.

Popyrin defeated Kazakh fourth seed Alexander Bublik 6–4, 6–4, while Khachanov lost after Finnish rival Emil Ruusuvuori retired with a back injury after just three games.

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