Top seed and World No.5 Andrey Rublev of Russia will be in familiar territory this week when he features at the $1.5mn Qatar ExxonMobil Open but the former champion in Doha will have his work cut out.
Rublev, who won the tournament in 2020 besides losing the final here in 2018, has German tennis star Alexander Zverev and Great Britain’s number two Daniel Evans, former champion Andy Murray and 2021 winner Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia lurking in his half of the 32-player field.
Rublev, the mixed doubles gold medal winner from Moscow, starts with a bye but could meet Evans in the second round provided the Briton wins his opening round clash against Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori.
Rublev, who lost to Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open quarter-finals last month, will be looking to add to his tally of 12 career titles when play commences at the six-day tournament today.
Murray, who has signed in as a wildcard for this week’s 250-point tournament, will be looking for a positive start when he takes on Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego. Murray has cumulated a total of 54 wildcard entries throughout his career.
‘Lucky loser’ Basilashvili, who shocked Roger Federer here two years ago, opens his Doha campaign with a clash against Alexandre Muller of France.
In the bottom half of the draw, second seed Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime will be looking at potential threats in his path namely third seed Daniil Medvedev of Russia and Spanish fifth seed Roberto Bautista Agut, last year’s champion in Doha.
Auger-Aliassime, who reached the fourth round at the Australian Open in January and quarter-finals at ATP Rotterdam last week, will meet the winner from the clash involving Aslan Karatsev of Russia and Jason Kubler of Australia.
Medvedev, who won the Rotterdam title yesterday, will meet the winner from a first-round match between two qualifiers. The 2021 US Open champion is expected to clash against Bautista Agut who also won the title in 2019. The Spaniard lost the 2021 final in Doha. Bautista Agut – a semi-finalist at Wimbledon in 2019 – opens against Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics.
Tournament Director Karim Alami said a ‘strong field’ is set to entertain tennis fans this week.
“We will witness the participation of some of the finest players on the Tour despite it being a 250-point category tournament,” Alami said at a press conference last week. “Spain’s Fernando Verdasco is nearing the end of his brilliant career and we wanted to celebrate his journey in a grand fashion. He gets a wild card for this week’s Qatar ExxonMobil Open,” he added.
“Andy Murray, a former champion in Qatar and one of the best players in the world, is also playing this week,” Alami said.
“As you know we will also see Andrey Rublev, ranked fifth in the world and champion in 2020, and Daniel Medvedev in addition to two-time champion Roberto Bautista Agut and Alexander Zverev this year,” he added.
Alami, a former ATP Tour player from Morocco, said that hosting the Qatar ExxonMobil Open a day after the conclusion of Qatar TotalEnergies Open does not represent any kind of difficulty. “We have great experience in hosting top tier tournaments. We are ready,” Alami, who famously beat then world No.1 Pete Sampras of the US at the Qatar Open in 1994, said.