Doha, Feb 26 (IANS): Daniil Medvedev prevented Andy Murray from winning the Qatar Open after beating the Brit in straight sets to win two titles in nine days on Saturday.
The lanky Medvedev played some promising shots to edge past Murray 6-4, 6-4 in the tepid Doha weather. The loss to the Russian came in Murray's fifth Qatar Open final and the first since losing to Novak Djokovic six years ago.
Third-seed Medvedev had defeated second seed Felix Auger-Alissaime of Canada on Friday to reach the final, while Murray beat 21-year-old rising star Jiri Lehecka in the
semifinal.
The tournament is a major draw on the sports calendar of the country that recently hosted the FIFA World Cup, the first one by a Middle East nation.
Meanwhile, the Qatar Tennis, Squash and Badminton Federation is drawing a plan to upgrade the Qatar ExxonMobil Open Tennis Championship from the ATP 250 series to ATP 500, media reports said.