Qatar Open: Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz advance to the quarter-finals

Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz remain on track to meet in the Qatar Open final after winning in straight sets on Wednesday.

Sinner, ranked second in the world, defeated Australian Alexei Popyrin 6-3, 7-5 to reach the quarter-finals in Doha, before Alcaraz defeated Frenchman Valentin Royer 6-2, 7-5.

The duo met in six finals last year, three of which were Grand Slams, with world number one Alcaraz winning the French and US Open.

The 22-year-old Spanish player will meet in the next round with Karen Khachanov, who defeated Marton Fucsovics 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.

Sixth seed Jakub Mencic defeated Zhang Zhichen 6-3, 6-2 to set up a quarter-final clash with Sinner, who has now reached at least the quarter-finals in 28 of his last 30 tournaments, extending to the men’s tennis season finale in Turin 2023.

The 24-year-old Italian, who won the Australian Open and Wimbledon titles last year, has won 22 of his past 23 matches. His only defeat came to Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals of the Australian Open last month.

Meanwhile, Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas defeated world number 11 Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 6-4 in Doha, setting up a match with fifth seed Andrey Rublev, who beat Fabian Marozsan 6-2, 6-4.

Unseeded Frenchman Arthur Fels and eighth-seeded Czech Jiri Lehka complete the quarter-final lineup, having also achieved comfortable victories.