Khachanov clinches the title of Qatar ExxonMobil Open

In the final match of the 250-point category tournament, Khachanov (27 years old) achieved his first title in Qatar and the sixth in his professional career by defeating the young Czech player Jakub Měnšík (18 years old) with a score of 7-6, 6-4.

His Excellency Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Thani, Minister of Sports and Youth, accompanied by His Excellency Mr. Nasser bin Ghanim Al Khelaifi, President of the Qatar Tennis Federation, and Karim Al-Alami, the tournament director, crowned the Russian champion and awarded him the Golden Falcon, while the Czech player received the second-place prize.

The Russian player denied his Czech counterpart the opportunity to win his first title in Qatar and in his professional career within the Professional Tennis Players Association (ATP) circuit.

Khachanov, ranked second in the tournament and seventeenth globally, started his journey in the Qatar Championship from the second round after being exempted by the organizing committee from playing in the first round, along with the top four seeded players. He secured a victory against Hungarian player Fabian Marozsan 2-0 to advance to the quarterfinals, then proceeded to the semifinals after his Finnish opponent Emil Ruusuvuori withdrew due to injury. Khachanov continued his journey and defeated Australian player Alexei Popyrin 2-0 in the semifinals to advance to the final.

This title marks the sixth for the Russian player in the ATP circuit, including his title in the Paris Masters Championship in 2018. He also reached the semifinals of the US Open 2022 and the semifinals of the Australian Open 2023.

On the other hand, the young Czech player Jakub Měnšík became the youngest player to reach the final match of the Qatar Championship after defeating veteran French player Gaël Monfils (27 years old), the winner of the championship in 2018, with a score of 2-1 yesterday.

Měnšík started his journey strongly from the first round, securing a victory against Spanish player Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 2-0, then defeated the veteran British player Andy Murray, the winner of the Qatar Championship in 2008 and 2009, with a score of 2-1 to advance to the quarterfinals. He continued his impressive performance by defeating Russian player Andrey Rublev, ranked first and fifth globally, and the winner of the Qatar Championship 2020, with a score of 2-0, becoming the youngest player to defeat one of the top five ranked players globally since Carlos Alcaraz defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas in the 2021 US Open Championship.