Doha, 9 January 2020 - World No. 62 Miomir Kecmanovic scripted an unexpected 7-6 (9), 6-1 upset of 2012 champion and third-seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in their pre-quarters clash on Wednesday to set up a clash against Marton Fucsovics, who had earlier defeated Turkey's Cem İlkel 6-1, 6-4.
The 20-year-old Serbian, who as at this time last year was ranked outside the top-130, gave a stunning performance, especially during the first set where he held his nerve to win the tie-break.
“I'm delighted to win against a big player like Tsonga and I hope this will boost my confidence going forward as I plan to go as far as possible at this tournament. I can't fully express how I'm feeling right now with this result but it's obviously a feeling I'll like to continue," the obviously elated Kecmanovic, who is making his maiden appearance in Doha, said.
Meanwhile, Second-seed Andrey Rublev advanced into the quarters with a 6-4, 6-2 defeat of Kazakhistan's player Mikhail Kukushkin while singles' top-seed Stan Wawrinka and Frances Tiafoe's doubles campaign came to an end after tasting a 6-3, 6-4 quarter-final defeat in the hands of Rohan Bopanna and Wesley Koolhof.
Rublev, who won 82 percent of his first serve and fired four aces on his way to victory, will be up against Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert, who got the better of Serbia's Laslo Đere with a 6-1, 6-3 triumph in just 62 minutes, in the last-eight.
In the other match of the day, Doha-resident Fernando Verdasco got a third-set bagel in his 2-1 (7-5, 4-6, 6-0) defeat of sixth-seed Filip Krajinovic in a match that lasted the whole of 2 hours and 5 minutes.
