Daniil Medvedev faces tricky opener in Dubai Tennis Championships

Daniil Medvedev’s title defence at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championshipswill begin with a tricky opener against 23-year-old Alexander Shevchenko, the draw revealed on Saturday.

Making his first appearance since losing the Australian Open final from two-sets-to-love up against Jannik Sinner, Medvedev is familiar with the danger posed by Shevchenko, who extended the Russian to three sets in their sole previous meeting in the Madrid third round last year.

Shevchenko arrives to Dubai at a career-high ranking of 45 and was present at the draw ceremony when his name was announced as Medvedev’s first-round opponent.

“Basically, I thought it’s better to redo the draw,” joked Shevchenko, who changed his citizenship at the start of the 2024 season from Russia to Kazakhstan.

“Obviously it’s different playing here (compared to Madrid); he won last year, he’s the defending champion and just a great player. To beat him you have to play your best and hopefully he plays a little bit below his average. Let’s see, let’s hope.”

Full Dubai draw pic.twitter.com/iFvNUQq1Gu

Medvedev could take on No 8 seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the quarter-finals, with the likes of third-seeded Hubert Hurkacz, fifth-seeded Ugo Humbert, French wildcard Gael Monfils, and former champion Andy Murray, all possible semi-final opponents for the world No 4.

Andrey Rublev, 2022 Dubai champion and last year’s runner-up, is seeded No 2 and will take on China’s Zhang Zhizhen in the first round.

Rublev shares the same quarter of the draw with No 6 seed Adrian Mannarino and could square off with No 4 seed Karen Khachanov or No 7 seed Alexander Bublik in the semi-finals.

Joining Monfils as wildcards in the main draw are Jordanian Abdullah Shelbayh and India’s