Jack Draper has progressed to the second round of the Qatar Open with a strong performance in a 6-2 7-6 (7-4) victory against Alexei Popyrin.

The eighth seed – playing for the first time since retiring injured against Carlos Alcaraz at the Australian Open in January – needed only 27 minutes to take the first set in Dubai with Popyrin unable to cope with the Briton’s first serves.

The second set was far less straightforward for Draper as Popyrin saved a break point to keep with serve.

Draper, making his debut in Doha, won the tie-break to set up a last-16 meeting with Australian qualifier Christopher O’Connell.

Earlier on Monday top seed Carlos Alcaraz progressed to the second round with a 6-4 6-4 victory against Marin Cilic.

Former US Open champion Cilic – making his first appearance since November because of a knee-injury setback – spurned three break points late in the second set that would have put him 5-3 up.

Alcaraz then broke serve and secured a place in the last 16, where he will face either Zhang Zhizhen or Luca Nardi.