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The second seed withstood a late fightback to defeat Roman Safiullin 6-1, 7-5 and advance at the newly upgraded ATP 500. De Minaur, who turned 26 on Monday, let slip a break lead when serving for the match at 5-4, but recovered with some trademark grit to record his Tour-leading 12th victory of the 2025 season.

“They’re tough days, these ones,” said De Minaur. “It’s cold, it’s windy, you probably don’t want to get out of bed. But once you step on court, you have to do everything you can to win. 

"Whether it’s ugly or pretty tennis, you just put the ball in the court, and that’s what I did today. The wind made it difficult to feel comfortable out there on court. 

"Out went any sort of tactics you had for the match and it was all about surviving more than anything.”

The slower, windier conditions in the first-round match appeared to favour De Minaur, who neutralised Safiullin’s aggressive baseline play in the opening set. 

The 27-year-old Safiullin eventually found his range, and carved out a total of six break points, but only converted one as his unforced error tally rose to 44. 

De Minaur, a nine-time tour-level titlist, kept his cool when under pressure to maintain his rock-solid form at ATP 500 events. The Australian has now won a Tour-leading 34 matches at this level since the start of 2023 season.

Safiullin was chasing his first Top 10 win since defeating Carlos Alcaraz at the 2023 ATP Masters 1000 in Paris, but ultimately came unstuck by the resilience of De Minaur late in the second set. The Australian's all-court prowess was on display throughout the one-hour, 37-minute encounter, highlighted by a 15-shot rally in the fifth game, which De Minaur ended with a crafty volley.

De Minaur has enjoyed a standout start to his 2025 campaign, in which he has tallied a 12-2 record that includes a breakthrough run to the quarter-finals at his home major and his second consecutive appearance in the Rotterdam final. In the second round in Doha, the 26-year-old will face qualifier Botic van de Zandschulp, who eased past wild card Abdullah Shelbayh 7-5, 6-3.

In other action at the ATP 500 event, former champion and fifth seed Andrey Rublev advanced to the second round with a 6-3, 6-4 triumph over Alexander Bublik. The 27 year-old, who won the Doha title in 2020, remains on track for a potential quarter-final meeting with the second-seeded De Minaur. He will next face Portugal’s Nuno Borges.

The 2023 Doha winner Daniil Medvedev claimed his first win over a Top 30 opponent in 2025 by defeating defending champion and World No. 21 Karen Khachanov. The fourth seed dug deep for a gruelling 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 triumph, which featured plenty of rallies extending beyond the 50-shot mark.

Medvedev did not earn a break point until the set point he converted to steal the second and level the match but, in the decider, the 29-year-old was rewarded for shifting to a more aggressive approach. He won 94 per cent (16/17) of points behind his first delivery in the final set, en route to improving to a 5-0 record in Doha.

Medvedev will next face Zizou Bergs, who earlier overcame two-time champion Roberto Bautista Agut 6-4, 7-6(4). 

If he can defeat the Belgian, Medvedev will become just the second man born in 1990 or later to capture 300 hard-court wins (299-107; Dimitrov - 312).