Surprise in Doha: Carlos Alcaraz reaches the semifinal of the Qatar Open, but Jannik Sinner falls to Jakub Mensik, the 20-year-old Czech player, winner of the Miami Open last year, where he defeated Novak Djokovic, earns another top ten victory, the biggest in his career, against a World No. 2.
Mensik took down Sinner 7-6(3), 2-6, 6-3 and will face Arthur Fils tomorrow, who earlier defeated Jiri Lehecka in the quarter-final.
Carlos Alcaraz suffers but bounces back to enter into semifinals
Some hours earlier, Alcaraz suffered exactly the same result in the first set, losing the tie break 7-3 to Karen Khachanov. However, despite the very inspired shots by the Russian player, Alcaraz improved, won 6-7(1), 6-4, 6-3, and extended his 6-0 record to Khachanov in the head to head, as well as continuing to be unbeaten in 2026 after ten matches.
Alcaraz will face on Friday the defending champion of the ATP 500 tournament, Andrey Rublev, who defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 7-6(2).
Qatar Open 2026 semifinals on Friday, February 20:
Carlos Alcaraz vs. Andrey Rublev: 17:30 CET, 16:30 GMT
Arthur Fils vs. Jakub Mensik: 18:40 CET, 17:40 GMT