Khachanov downs Marozsan for 250th career win

A thrilling win against a former World No. 1, reaching a maiden ATP Tour quarter-final, and a move to the brink of the Top 100 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings.

Those achievements all featured in Jakub Mensik’s Wednesday at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open, where the #NextGenATP Czech overcame Andy Murray 7-6(6), 6-7(3), 7-6(4) in a remarkable second-round battle at the hard-court ATP 250 in Doha.

After twice failing to serve out the match as Murray roared back from 2-5 down in the third set, Mensik held firm to prevail after contesting his first deciding-set tie-break in a tour-level match. The 18-year-old finished having struck 18 winners including 12 aces, according to Infosys ATP Stats, as he found a way past the resilient Murray in three hours and 24 minutes.

“I’m just speechless right now, I don’t know what to say,” said Mensik in his on-court interview. “I know that a lot of the fans wanted Andy to win today, so hopefully they will come to watch my match tomorrow.

“I’m just happy. It was a tough match today. Andy is an unbelievable player, I know that. When I was young, I watched him win Wimbledon two times, so it’s unbelievable that he can still compete with the best players in the world.”

Murray came so close to pulling off yet another remarkable comeback at an event where he last year notched two victories after saving match points. The Briton could not complete the job this time around, however, and he will be left to rue a missed backhand volley on the first of two set points he held from 6/4 in the opening-set tie-break.

Having also defeated Alejandro Davidovich Fokina on Tuesday, Mensik has now risen 14 places to No. 102 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings as a result of his Doha run so far.

“The first set it was tough with the conditions, the wind started a little bit," reflected Mensik, who is the third player born in 2005 or later to reach an ATP quarter-final after Dino Prizmic and Shang Juncheng. "The tie-break was not such good quality, and I was a little bit lucky in the end.

"In the third set I was 5-2, and then when it was 5-5 I just said, ‘Go on. This guy will not give me any points’. I tried to stay calm and in the tie-break I’m just super happy I stayed focused until the end.”

A trio of seeded players also booked their quarter-final spots on Wednesday in Doha, including Karen Khachanov. The second seed downed Fabian Marozsan 6-4, 7-5 in the pair's maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head clash for his 250th tour-level win. The 27-year-old Khachanov will next take on Emil Ruusuvuori, who beat Christopher O’Connell 6-3, 6-3.

Third seed Ugo Humbert raced past Pavel Kotov 6-4, 6-1 to set a match with his fellow Frenchman Gael Monfils or Zhang Zhizhen, while fourth seed Alexander Bublik beat Marton Fucsovics 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 to advance to face Alexei Popyrin. Australia's Popyrin saw off qualifier Hugo Grenier 7-6(3), 6-7(8), 6-1.