Doha, Feb. 18 -- Jack Draper has progressed to the second round of the Qatar Open with a strong performance in a 6-2 7-6 (7-4) victory against Alexei Popyrin.
The eighth seed - playing for the first time since retiring injured against Carlos Alcaraz at the Australian Open in January - needed only 27 minutes to take the first set in Dubai with Popyrin unable to cope with the Briton's first serves.
The second set was far less straightforward for Draper as Popyrin saved a break point to keep with serve, the BBC reported.
Draper, making his debut in Doha, won the tie-break to set up a last-16 meeting with Australian qualifier Christopher O'Connell.
Earlier on Monday top seed Carlos Alcaraz progressed to the second round with a 6-4 6-4 victo...