Draper and Alcaraz through to last 16 at Qatar Open

In a 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) victory over Alexei Popyrin, Jack Draper successfully advanced to the second round of the Qatar Open.

The eighth seed needed only 27 minutes to play the first set in Dubai because Popyrin couldn’t handle the Briton’s first serves, which was the eighth seed’s first since retiring from the Australian Open in January.

Due to Popyrin saving a break point to keep with serve, Draper had to work on the second set, which was much more challenging.

Draper, making his debut in Doha, won the tie-break to set up a last-16 meeting with Australian qualifier Christopher O’Connell.

Marin Cilic defeated top seed Carlos Alcaraz 6-4, 6-4, to advance to the second round earlier on Monday.

After suffering a knee injury setback in his first game since November, former US Open champion Cilic spurned three break points late in the second set that would have made him 5-3 up.