Jacob Mencik in action© AFP
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.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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