Alexei Popyrin vs Karen Khachanov Prediction & Betting Tips - ATP Qatar Open

Prediction published on 22/02/2024, 11:38  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 23/02/2024 at 02:00 in Tennis Predictions

Second seed Karen Khachanov faces unseeded Alexei Popyrin in the Qatar ExxonMobil Open semi-finals. The Russian is the highest seed left in this hard court tournament after top seeded Andrey Rublev lost to Jakub Mensik in the quarter finals. It wasn't a tough match for Khachanov in the last eight. His opponent Emil Ruusuvouri lost the first three games to Khachanov and then retired due to a back injury. The second seed is now 16th in the live rankings and a win over Popyrin will take him above Frances Tiafoe into 15th. In the ATP Race, he's in 16th position. This is his second semi-final of the year having also reached this stage in Marseille. He's played two matches in this tournament having also beaten Fabian Marozsan in straight sets. He leads Popyrin 2-1 in previous meetings but lost their most recent match last October.

Alexei Popyrin beat fourth seed Alexander Bublik in the last eight winning both sets 6-4. That was his third match in this tournament and the other two both went to a final set. It's taken the Australian world number 46 nearly six hours to get to this stage with his opponent only having played 101 minutes. Popyrin has also beaten wild card Abdullah Shelbayh and qualifier Hugo Grenier. He's up to 37th in the live rankings which is a new career high. A win here will take him into this third ATP Tour singles final and he's won both of the previous two. The most recent was last year but played on clay. We tip Khachanov to get the win in this semi-final.