Top seed Carlos Alcaraz recovered from a second-set loss to beat Italian qualifier Luca Nardi 6-1 4-6 6-3 in the second round after 1 hour and 52 minutes at the Qatar Exxon Mobil Open in Doha. Alcaraz has extended his winning streak to twelve consecutive matches at the ATP 500 matches.
Alcaraz met Nardi for the first time on the ATP Tour.
The Spanish player earned an early break at love in the first game: He missed more break points in the third game, but he broke again in the fifth game to open up a 4-1 lead. The four-time Grand Slam champion held serve in the sixth game and closed out the opening set with his third break.
Alcaraz went up a set and a break in the fourth game to build up a 6-1 4-1 lead, but Nardi broke back in the seventh game and held at love in the next game to draw level to 4-4. The Italian player earned another break in the ninth game and held at love in the 10th game forcing the match to the decider. Nardi reeled off 14 of the 15 next points.
Alcaraz broke serve in the fourth game and held serve at deuce to open up a 4-1 lead. The Spaniard held serve at love in the seventh and ninth games to seal the win moving into the quarter final.
“At 4-1, 40/40 [in the second set], he played a few good points and then it seemed like he started to play like the World No. 1. I couldn’t do anything, I just tried to stay there, stay strong mentally. My energy levels probably went down a little bit, but credit to him. I’m really happy [that I] forgot everything and restarted in the third set”, said Alcaraz.
Alcaraz set up a quarter final against Jiri Lehecka, who cruised past Fabian Maroszan 6-4 6-2.
Alex De Minaur beat Botic Van de Zandschulp 6-4 6-4 after two hours to reach his third consecutive quarter final of the year. De Minaur has improved to 3-0 in his head-to-head series against Van de Zandschulp.
De Minaur has achieved his 35th win at ATP 500 level since the start of 2023. The Australian player has earned a Tour-leading 13 victories in 2025. He reached the quarter finals at the Australian Open and finished runner-up to Carlos Alcaraz in the final of the ATP 500 in Rotterdam.
De Minaur, who clinched his 200th tour-level hard court level win In his first round mach against Roman Safiulin, saved all four break points he faced.
De Minaur saved three break points in the sixth game to hold serve for 3-3. The Australian player broke serve in the ninth game to take a 5-4 lead and served out with a hold at love.
De Minaur earned his only break of the second set in the fifth game at love and sealed the win on is first match point.
De Minaur set up a quarter final match against fifth seed Andrey Rublev, who beat Nuno Borges 6-3 6-4. Rublev, who won in Doha in 2020, reached the semifinals in Montpellier and the quarter final in Rotterdam.
Rublev converted his second break point in the second game and served out the first set at love. The Russian player started the second set in the first game and held serve at 30 to open up a 2-0 lead. He served out the win on his third match point.
Fourth seed Danil Medvedev cruised past Zizou Bergs 6-2 6-1 in 56 minutes to earn his 300th tour-level win on hard-court. The Russian player holds a 4-3 record this season. He committed just six unforced errors compared to 29 for Bergs.
Medvedev set up a quarter final match against Felix Auger Aliassime, who received a walkover from Hamad Medjedovic, who suffered from a harmstring injury.
