{"id":63486,"date":"2024-02-23T11:51:07","date_gmt":"2024-02-23T11:51:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/czech-teenager-mensik-stuns-rublev-at-qatar-open-the-express-tribune\/"},"modified":"2024-02-23T11:51:07","modified_gmt":"2024-02-23T11:51:07","slug":"czech-teenager-mensik-stuns-rublev-at-qatar-open-the-express-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/czech-teenager-mensik-stuns-rublev-at-qatar-open-the-express-tribune\/","title":{"rendered":"Czech teenager Mensik stuns Rublev at Qatar Open | The Express Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\nDOHA:
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Czech teenager Jakub Mensik stunned top seed Andrey Rublev<\/a> in straight sets at the Qatar Open on Thursday to reach his maiden ATP semi-final and guarantee a spot in the world’s top 100 for the first time.<\/p>\n

The 18-year-old came through 6-4, 7-6 (8\/6) against the fifth-ranked Rublev, a day after defeating three-time Grand Slam title winner Andy Murray.<\/p>\n

“It’s just 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 reach the semi-finals after beating those good players,” said wildcard Mensik who arrived in the Gulf ranked at 116.<\/p>\n

“But the job is not done yet. Hopefully I can play like this again in the semis and go on to make the final.”<\/p>\n

With his one-hour, 38-minute win on Thursday, Mensik became the youngest player to defeat a top-five player since Carlos Alcaraz<\/a> overcame Stefanos Tsitsipas at the 2021 US Open.<\/p>\n

Mensik will face 2018 champion Gael Monfils for a place in Saturday’s final after the veteran won an all-French affair by beating third seed Ugo Humbert 6-2, 6-4.<\/p>\n

Monfils is the oldest semi-finalist in Qatar tournament history aged 37 years and five months.<\/p>\n

The other semi-final will see Australia’s Alexei Popyrin face Russian second seed Karen Khachanov.<\/p>\n

Popyrin eased past Kazakh fourth seed Alexander Bublik 6-4, 6-4 while Khachanov went through when Finnish opponent Emil Ruusuvuori retired with a back injury after just three games.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DOHA: Czech teenager Jakub Mensik stunned top seed Andrey Rublev in straight sets at the Qatar Open on Thursday to reach his maiden ATP semi-final and guarantee a spot in the world’s top 100 for the first time. The 18-year-old came through 6-4, 7-6 (8\/6) against the fifth-ranked Rublev, a day after defeating three-time Grand […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63487,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.tribune.com.pk\/media\/images\/mensik1708685738-0\/mensik1708685738-0.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t