Felix Auger-Aliassime will meet Jason Kubler in the Round of 16 of the 2023 Qatar Open. The match will be played on Wednesday February 22nd, 2023.
Felix Auger-Aliassime is the second seed here rat the Qatar Open and is ranked 9th in the world. The young Canadian star had a breakthrough season in 2022, winning his first titles and shooting up the rankings to a career-high #6. He has not quite risen to those heights yet in 2023, and has been rather disappointing by his high standards. After falling in the Quarter-Finals last week in Rotterdam and failing to defend his title, he will be gunning for a strong showing here. If he plays to his ability he should be the massive favorite to win here over Jason Kubler and will be one of the main contenders for the title.
Jason Kubler is ranked at a career-high #74 in the world and has made a strong start to the 2023 season. He was looking very good in his First Round match against Karatsev, being up a set and a break before the Russian had to pull out due to an injury. Despite his good form, he is up against one of the best players in the world in FAA, and will have to pull out his best tennis to avoid being crushed. Kubler has a solid all around game, but may lack the firepower needed to hit through the Canadian, and could be in for a tough day at the office here.
This should be a one sided affair, with Felix Auger-Aliassime being far and away the better player. He has way too much firepower for the Aussie to handle, and once he can keep his error count in check I see him cruising to victory here. He loves this surface, and despite recent results is playing some of the best tennis of his career, so I see him moving on to the Quarter-Finals of the Qatar Open with ease.