Mevdevev wins and Rublev says goodbye

Australian Alex de Minaur, second seed, and Russian Andrey Rublev, third and winner of the Doha tournament last Sunday, were among the surprises yesterday in Dubai, losing to Croatian Marin Cilic and Frenchman Quentin Halys, respectively.

For his part, the Russian Daniil Medvedev, top seed, made it to the second round after defeating the German Jan-Lennard Struff for the eighth time, 6-4 and 7-6 (4).

Rublev lost in two hours and fourteen minutes to Halys by 3-6, 6-4 and 7-6 (5), while De Minaur succumbed to Cilic, currently 187th in the world ranking, 6-2, 3-6 and 6-3.

Cilic needed two hours and 18 minutes to defeat the Australian, finalist in the last tournament in Rotterdam, who wasted all his break opportunities.

Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime (21 ATP), semi-finalist of the Qatari tournament, also made it to the second round, where he fell to Rublev, who beat Kazakh Alexander Bublik (51) after almost three hours, 7-6 (7), 6 (4)-7 and 6-3. Yesterday, Portuguese Nuno Borges (38) also scored victories, against French Arthur Fils, 6-2 and 6-1, and Italian Luca Nardi, 1-6, 6-2 and 6-3 against Hungarian Marton Fucsovics.