ATP roundup: Khachanov advances in Doha, Murray loses thriller

Second-seeded Karen Khachanov defeated Fabian Marozsan 6-4, 7-5 on Wednesday in the second round of the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha.

Khachanov of Russia fired six aces and took advantage of his opponent's three double faults to defeat the Italian in 88 minutes.

Top-seeded Andrey Rublev of Russia smoothly defeated France's Richard Gasquet 6-3, 6-4.

Ugo Humbert, the third seed from France, also advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Pavel Kotov of Russia.

In a challenging match, fourth-seeded Alexander Bublik faced Marton Fucsovics of Hungary. Despite six double faults and a first-set loss, the Kazakhstan native emerged victorious with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 win.

On the same day, Alexei Popyrin of Australia secured a 7-6, 7-6, 6-1 win against Frenchman Hugo Grenier, while Finland's Emil Ruusuvuori defeated Christopher O'Connell of Australia with a score of 6-3, 6-3.

Former world number one Andy Murray lost a tough three-set match to Czech 18-year-old Jakub Mensik, who previously eliminated fifth seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain. Mensik spent three hours and 26 minutes to defeat Murray 7-6, 6-7, 7-6.

Gael Monfils of France narrowly won against China's Zhang Zhizhen with a score of 4-6, 7-5, 7-6.

Rio Open
Brazilian Joao Fonseca, aged 17, achieved his first ATP Tour victory by upsetting seventh-seeded Frenchman Arthur Fils 6-0, 6-4 in the opening round in Rio de Janeiro.

Fonseca, the current US Open boys champion, holds the 655th rank globally, while Fils is ranked 36th. Fonseca did not face any break points and won 68 per cent of the points on Fils' second serve.

Only one other match was completed on Wednesday due to rain interruptions. Fourth-seeded Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina dominated Spain's Albert Ramos-Vinolas with a score of 6-2, 6-1.

Alex Michelsen from the United States caused an upset in the second round of the Los Cabos Open in Mexico by defeating third-seeded Alex de Minaur from Australia with a score of 6-4, 6-1.

The outcome of the match was heavily influenced by the players' serves, with Michelsen having a first-serve rate of 62 per cent, while de Minaur managed to put only 38 per cent of his first serves in play.

Other top-seeded players such as Stefanos Tsitsipas from Greece, Casper Ruud from Norway, and Jordan Thompson from Australia all secured straight-set victories. Nuno Borges from Portugal also managed to defeat seventh-seeded Max Purcell from Australia with a score of 6-3, 6-3. Aleksandar Kovacevic from the United States also progressed to the next round.

In the night session, top-seeded Alexander Zverev from Germany dominated over Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka with a score of 6-3, 6-0, while Australia's Thanasi Kokkinakis defeated Great Britain's Daniel Evans with a score of 6-4, 6-2.