After Djokovic:

Alcaraz, De Minaur and Medvedev also out in Doha

Carlos Alcaraz was beaten by Jiri Lehecka in three sets.

(Bild: AFP or Licensors)

There has been an exodus of seeded players at the ATP 500 tournament in Doha, which has prize money of around 3 million dollars. After Novak Djokovic's opening elimination, top seed Carlos Alcaraz (ESP), number two Alex de Minaur (AUS) and number four Daniil Medvedev (RUS) bowed out in the quarter-finals on Thursday. The top seed in the semi-finals is Andrei Rublev, who only secured his place in the semi-finals with his eighth match point against De Minaur.

6:1, 3:6, 7:6(8) was the score after 2:37 hours for the world number ten from Russia. Rublev will now face Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime, who benefited from Medvedev's retirement after winning the first set. The former US Olympic champion is suffering from food poisoning. The Czech Jiri Lehecka then caused the next surprise by defeating the world number three Alcaraz 6:3, 3:6, 6:4 and celebrating his first career victory over a top three player.

Lehecka against Draper
"One point decided it, that makes tennis really difficult," said Alcaraz after his second defeat of the year. "At 4:2 and break point (in the third set) the ball was just under the net, but from 4:3 onwards he played great." Last year's French Open and Wimbledon winner said there was little he could have done differently afterwards to win. Lehecka will now face Vienna winner Jack Draper, who knocked out Djokovic's opponent Matteo Berrettini in three sets. The 23-year-old left-hander Draper will at least move up to 14th place, his best ranking to date.