Karen Khachanov, Jakub Mensik to meet in Doha final
Sports
Khachanov will face Jakub Mensik in the final after the Czech native beat Gael Monfils 6-4, 1-6, 6-3
Doha, Qatar (Reuters) - No. 2 seed Karen Khachanov of Russia won a marathon first-set tiebreaker and advanced past Australia's Alexei Popyrin 7-6 (12), 6-2 in the semifinals of the Qatar ExxonMobil Open on Friday in Doha.
Khachanov will face Jakub Mensik in the final after the Czech native beat Frenchman Gael Monfils 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.
Khachanov won the first four points of his first-set tiebreaker but let Popyrin right back in it, leading to a 6-5 deficit. The Russian saved the first of three set points he faced in the tiebreaker, but he did not finish the job until his fifth set point at 13-12.
Despite Popyrin having a 35-23 advantage in winners, Khachanov had just four unforced errors to Popyrin's 14 and won 55.6 percent of the total points (79 of 142).
Mensik, who upset top-seeded Andrey Rublev of Russia in the previous round, saved nine of 12 break points against Monfils. Mensik is ranked No. 116 in the world.
Rio Open
Two Argentine players beat Brazilian opponents and a third Argentine player joined them in earning quarterfinal wins in Rio de Janeiro.
Fifth-seeded Sebastian Baez got past Thiago Monteiro 6-4, 1-6, 6-2 and qualifier Mariano Navone got past Joao Fonseca in the two Argentina-Brazil matchups. Fonseca, 17, had never won a match on the ATP Tour before winning twice in Rio this week.
Baez's semifinal opponent will be countryman Francisco Cerundolo, the fourth seed, who rallied past Serbia's Dusan Lajovic 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. Navone's semifinal foe will be second-seeded Cameron Norrie of Great Britain, who moved on with a 6-1, 3-6, 6-2 victory over Brazil's Thiago Seyboth Wild.
