On February 18, local time, the first round of the men's singles at the ATP500 Doha station began, and Djokovic, who participated for the first time after the Australian Open, lost to Berrettini 6-7 (4)/2-6. The Italian has his first win in five meetings with Djokovic and his first top-10 win since January 2023.

"It's something I've always wanted to do." Berrettini said after the match, "We have all met in the biggest tournament on the tour before, and it was an honour to play against him, and I always wanted to win one of those matches. I've put in a lot of effort to get back to where I am and I know I'm at a high level and I just need to win fights like this. I'm happy with my performance, I'm enjoying my time here and that's the most important thing. ”

The defeat was Djokovic's first exit from the tournament since losing to Davidovich Fokina at the 2022 Monte Carlo Masters. The Serbian king said after the match that he was in good physical condition and that the loss was due to the good performance of his opponent: "I didn't have any pain or discomfort in my body, today I was just beaten by a better player. I really didn't perform at the level I wanted, maybe because my movement wasn't as good as it could be. I think he [Berrettini] played at a super high level, executed his tactics well and served very well, so he deserved to win this match. Djokovic will continue to play doubles with Verdasco, who have already advanced to the quarter-finals and will face second seeds Helievara/Patten in the quarter-finals.

China's Zhang Zhizhen lost 4-6, 3-6 in the first round of the Men's Singles to Italy's Naldi, who had made it through the qualifying round, and missed out on Alcaraz. De Minaur, Dmitry Medvedev, Rublev, Aliassime and others all advanced to the second round, with Tsitsipas upsetting Serbia's Mejdovic 6-7(6)/7-5/6-7(5).

(Text, Editor/Faye Wong, Photo/Visual China)