Tennis News

Alcaraz converts 6th MP to sink Rublev, reach Doha final

Carlos Alcaraz’s mental resolve was heavily tested by defending champion Andrey Rublev on Friday at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open, but the top seed ultimately found a way through, converting his sixth match point to seal a dramatic passage into the final.

The No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings battled for a gripping 7-6(3), 6-4 victory under the lights in Doha to extend his perfect start to 2026 to 11 matches. Although he twice failed to serve out the opening set and saw a 3-0 lead in the second quickly erased, Alcaraz remained steady under pressure to advance to the Qatari ATP 500 final for the first time after two hours, two minutes.

See you in the silverware showdown 👉😁

World No.1 @carlosalcaraz breaks new ground in Doha 7-6(3), 6-4 🆚 Rublev@QatarTennis | #QatarExxonMobilOpen pic.twitter.com/clGTuSEvTM

— ATP Tour (@atptour) February 20, 2026

“I know what I am able to do every time I step on the court, what I am capable of doing,” Alcaraz said when asked if he is ever amazed by himself. “The way that I am approaching every match, I’m just really proud about it. It’s something I am trying to be better at and it’s paying off. I’m proud of myself [for] getting better and maturing.”

Awaiting Alcaraz in Saturday’s final will be sixth seed and 2024 finalist Jakub Mensik — who defeated World No. 1 Jannik Sinner on Thursday — or France’s Arthur Fils. With his semi-final victory, Alcaraz stretched his Lexus ATP Head2Head lead over two-time Doha champion Rublev to 5-1.

Since capturing the Australian Open crown in January to become the youngest man to complete the Career Grand Slam, the 22-year-old Alcaraz has played with assurance, but his path in Doha has required persistence. After rallying past former champion Karen Khachanov in three sets in the quarter-finals, the top seed faced more challenges against Rublev.

“If you want to find a solution to a problem, you should find it in a calm place,” Alcaraz said. “It’s something I am working on. When I am playing and getting mad, seeing I’m not at my best, I just get frustrated. That is not the place you will find solutions. In these matches, I have been really calm, thinking clearly and being positive. It’s in those places where you can find the solutions to a problem.”

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Heliovaara & Patten turn tide in rivalry vs. Cash & Glasspool with Doha title

Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten are beginning to turn the tide in their Lexus ATP Head2Head rivalry with Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool, following a composed championship-match victory at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open on Friday.

The third-seeded Heliovaara and Patten completed a spotless run to the ATP 500 title in Doha with a 6-3, 6-3 win over the top-seeded defending champions. Also winners in Adelaide, they became the second team to win multiple titles this season, joining Montpellier and Dallas champions Theo Arribage and Albano Olivetti.

DOUBLES DELIGHT IN DOHA 🤩

Heliovaara and Patten secure the trophy 🏆 #QatarExxonMobilOpen pic.twitter.com/EpZJ5PpTSy

— ATP Tour (@atptour) February 20, 2026

After losing their first four meetings against Cash and Glasspool, Heliovaara and Patten have now reduced the deficit to 2-4 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series. They also defeated the top seeds in the ATP Masters 1000 final in Paris in October.

“We finished the end of 2025 really strong and just to keep that form in 2026, it’s been a dream six months for us,” said Heliovaara, who won his maiden Nitto ATP Finals trophy with Patten in November. “With Henry, it’s always lovely to play. I had my family here in Doha this week — my wife and two kids — so it’s always special to travel with them.”

Heliovaara and Patten saved all seven break points they faced in the 69-minute final, according to Infosys ATP Stats. They are now up eight spots to No. 5 in the PIF ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings, continuing their strong start to the season.

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Tien rallies to shock defending champ in Delray Beach: 'I just kept believing'

Learner Tien was not ready for his Delray Beach Open to come to an end.

The 20-year-old was two points from defeat against defending champion Miomir Kecmanovic — who served for the match at 5-4 in the deciding set — but rallied for a 6-4, 6-7(4), 7-6(5) victory and a place in the quarter-finals.

“I just kept believing,” Tien said in his on-court interview. “I got broken on kind of a bad game at four all, but just tried to put that behind me as best I could, and just made him beat me.”

Kecmanovic showed no signs of nerves when he served for the match, hammering away from the baseline and putting consistent pressure on the home favourite. But Tien played great defence, turning into a brick wall at the most critical moment.

Once the reigning Next Gen ATP Finals champion retrieved the break, he was able to surge to the finish line and take a 2-1 lead in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series.

“I got a little lucky. I think luck always plays a little bit of a role,” Tien said. “But I think just fighting, just staying in there every point, and really making him close me out, I think [that] just paid off.”

Tien is fresh off a run to the quarter-finals of the Australian Open, where he beat a former No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings, Daniil Medvedev, and pushed Alexander Zverev to a fourth-set tie-break. The lefty will next take on Frances Tiafoe, who won the first ATP Tour title of his career in Delray Beach in 2018.

“I played him in the first round of the [US] Open a few years ago. Obviously he’s a totally different player,” Tiafoe said. “I’m excited to get up and play him. It’s funny how things turn. Now I’m the underdog in that match, so I’m happy to get out there and play against him.”

The eighth-seeded Tiafoe clawed past qualifier Zachary Svajda 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 to reach his first quarter-final since July of last year.

“I’m just happy to be competing. It feels good competing,” Tiafoe said. “It’s nice to put some matches together. Happy I get to play another match tomorrow. It’s going to be another tough opponent, so excited to get out there and compete.”

Top seed Taylor Fritz also battled through a tough test, eliminating #NextGenATP Spaniard Rafael Jodar 7-6(4), 6-4 in the last match of the day. The home favourite hit 15 aces and saved two of the three break points he faced, according to Infosys ATP Stats.

Fritz has shown good form since returning to the United States, advancing to the Dallas semi-finals last week. The 2023 and 2024 Delray Beach champion will continue his title chase against close friend Tommy Paul, a 7-6(11), 6-3 winner against lucky loser Adam Walton.

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Buse upsets Fonseca in Rio de Janeiro

Ignacio Buse spoiled Joao Fonseca’s pursuit of home glory at the Rio Open presented by Claro on Thursday when he upset the Brazilian 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 in the second round.

Despite losing the first set in the pair’s maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting, Buse eventually capitalised on Fonseca’s 43 unforced errors to triumph in a two-hour, 26-minute battle. With the victory, he became the first Peruvian to reach an ATP 500 quarter-final since the series was introduced in 2009.

“Today was a really difficult match,” Buse said. “We all know the potential that Joao has. We are really close friends. So that was also hard today.”

One year ago, Buse was No. 230 in the PIF ATP Rankings. Now the 21-year-old is at a career-high No. 91 and on the rise.

“I tried to deal with the pressure the best that I can,” Buse said. “I did it well today. And next time if I do it bad, I will learn and try to do it better.”

In a match delayed by an hour due to rain, Buse kept his composure under pressure. He crucially saved eight of the nine break points he faced, including three in the opening game of the second set and three at 4-3 in the third set, according to Infosys ATP Stats. The Peruvian fired his eighth ace to complete the upset and advance to the biggest quarter-final of his career, in which he will face Matteo Berrettini.

Berrettini also earned a hard-fought three-set win in the second round, defeating Dusan Lajovic 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 in two hours and nine minutes. With the win, the Italian reached his first tour-level quarter-final on clay since claiming his last title in Kitzbuhel in 2024.

In other action, eighth seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry advanced to the last eight with a 7-6(1), 6-4 win over Lithuanian qualifier Vilius Gaubas, who was aiming to reach his first tour-level quarter-final.

Etcheverry was forced to navigate late drama in the second set when he missed a match point on Gaubas’ serve while leading 5-2. The Argentine then stepped up to serve for the match, but rain suspended play before he could seal the win. Upon returning to the court, he was broken, but immediately responded by breaking Gaubas back to triumph.

With his two-hour, seven-minute victory, the Argentine is up to No. 44 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings, securing a return to the Top 50 for the first time since April last year. Etcheverry will next meet lucky loser Jaime Faria.

The Portuguese player, who defeated two-time defending champion Sebastian Baez in the first round for the biggest win of career, beat Damir Dzumhur 7-6(1), 6-4 in two hours and three minutes to reach the quarter-finals.

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Putting Sinner's Doha defeat in perspective: The numbers behind his consistency

Losses have been rare for Jannik Sinner in recent years. That is why when the Italian does fall short, it grabs plenty of people’s attention.

Jakub Mensik, last year’s Miami champion, upset the No. 2 player in the PIF ATP Rankings 7-6(3), 2-6, 6-3 Thursday in the Qatar ExxonMobil Open quarter-finals. This was straight off the back of a semi-final defeat to Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open.

It had been a year and a half since Sinner lost before the final at two consecutive tournaments. It last happened in 2024 at Wimbledon and at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Montreal (both quarter-finals).

Sinner is now 138-14 since the start of the 2024 season, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index, giving him an astonishing 90.8 winning percentage during that period. For context, Novak Djokovic owns the best tour-level winning percentage on record at 83.3 per cent.

Since Sinner lost in the Montreal quarter-finals in 2024, he has played 19 tournaments and made the final in 15 of them, lifting 10 trophies. His five championship-match defeats came against Carlos Alcaraz.

So while Sinner has now lost in consecutive events before the final, that speaks to his consistency in recent years. Mensik will play Arthur Fils Friday for a place in the Doha final.

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2026 Dubai tennis prize money

The Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships in Dubai, UAE, which this year runs from 23-28 February, has announced a prize money total of $3,311,005 for the 2026 edition.

The singles champion will earn $619,160. The winning doubles team will split $203,390.

View the full prize-money breakdown and the PIF ATP Rankings points at stake below.

2026 Dubai Singles Prize Money

2026 Dubai Doubles Prize Money (per team)

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2026 Acapulco tennis prize money

The Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC in Acapulco, Mexico, which this year runs from 23-28 February, has announced a prize money total of $2,469,450 for the 2026 edition.

The singles champion will earn $461,835. The winning doubles team will split $151,690.

View the full prize-money breakdown and the PIF ATP Rankings points at stake below.

2026 Acapulco Singles Prize Money

2026 Acapulco Doubles Prize Money (per team)

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Medvedev & Tien headline star-studded Indian Wells doubles field

There will be plenty of elite singles firepower in the doubles draw at next month’s BNP Paribas Open, with teams accepted into the draw including Daniil Medvedev and Learner Tien, Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Sebastian Korda, and Alex de Minaur and John Peers.

Medvedev and Tien is an eye-catching duo, given their budding Lexus ATP Head2Head rivalry (Tien leads 3-1). The American shed light on their partnership Thursday at the Delray Beach Open.

“I think his coach texted my coach last minute, maybe the day before the deadline. I said, ‘Sure’, I thought it would be fun and so I’m looking forward to it,” Tien said. “It was kind of random, because I don’t think he plays that much doubles and neither do I, so I think we’ll just go out and have fun.”

Six of the Top 10 players in the PIF ATP Rankings have entered the doubles field at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Indian Wells. World No. 2 Jannik Sinner and the big-serving American Reilly Opelka are currently alternates, and will need a wild card to enter the draw because their combined ranking of 71 was not high enough to make the cut.

Sinner holds a 26-25 tour-level doubles record, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index. The 24-year-old Italian lifted his only ATP Tour doubles trophy so far with Opelka in Atlanta in 2021.

Alexander Zverev and good friend Marcelo Melo, his regular doubles partner, are also alternates. The pair reached a Masters 1000 final in Monte-Carlo in 2024. Ben Shelton and fellow American Emilio Nava will also require a wild card.  

Regular doubles pairings that will headline the field in Indian Wells include Australian Open champions Christian Harrison and Neal Skupski, Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos, Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool and defending champions Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic. 

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Play in Rio de Janeiro resumes following rain delay

Thursday’s Play has resumed at the Rio Open presented by Claro after a second rain delay.

Following about an hour-long wait, Joao Fonseca will play Ignacio Buse on Quadra Guga Kuerten, with Matteo Berrettini vs. Dusan Lajovic to follow.

The first delay happened for approximately 45 minutes when Tomas Martin Etcheverry was three points from victory against Vilius Gaubas at 7-6(1), 5-3 15/15. The Argentine returned to seal a 7-6(1), 6-4 win.

In early action on Thursday, lucky loser Jaime Faria defeated Damir Dzumhur 7-6(1), 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals

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Mensik upsets Sinner to reach Qatar semi-finals

Jakub Mensik prevents Jannik Sinner from reaching another final as he knocks the world number two out of the Qatar Open quarter-finals, while Carlos Alcaraz reaches semis.

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