Alex de Minaur and Katie Boulter go public with new relationship

Rising Australian tennis star Alex de Minaur has gone public with fellow up and comer Katie Boulter.

The 22-year-old posted a picture of the pair to Instagram on Monday evening, giving world no. 317 Boulter a shoutout for International Women's Day in front of his 219,000 followers.

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"Happy international women’s day!! Specially to this one, I don’t mind you," De Minaur wrote, tagging Boulter and adding a string of emojis.

"Guess you're ok too," Boulter commented in reply, with comments from other tour pros joking about the pair being 'Insta official'.

The romance appeared to be brewing for some time, with British player Freya commenting 'Finally!!!! I’m so happy to see this post bless my timeline.'

Australian player Matt Reid joked that it 'must be nice' to be Instagram official.

A scribbled message of 'KT' written on a camera lens after his second round victory over Pablo Cuevas at the Australian Open had previously set the rumour mill alight.

De Minaur was eventually knocked out of the third round of the Australian Open, and progressed to the round of 16 at the ATP's Rotterdam event last week before he was knocked out by Japan's Kei Nishikori.

His turn at the ATP Rotterdam tournament was highlighted by a stunning rally against fellow Aussie John Millman in the first round.

Bautista Agut wins, Millman out in Qatar

Roberto Bautista Agut has overcame 22 aces from Reilly Opelka to beat the American 4-6 6-3 6-4 in the first round of the Qatar Open.

The Spanish player, seeded fifth, converted only two of 11 break points on Monday to win.

Bautista Agut, who reached the Montpellier final just over a week ago, will play Kazakhstan's Alexander Bublik in the second round after Bublik beat Indian qualifier Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-4 6-2.

Australian John Millman got off to a good start but lost to Georgia's Nikoloz Basilashvili 2-6 6-4 6-4 in his first round clash.

Surprise Australian Open semifinalist Aslan Karatsev had a relaxed return to the court with a 6-4 6-0 win against Qatari player Mubarak Shannan Zayid.

Karatsev's next match will be much more strenuous as he faces US Open champion Dominic Thiem.

Taylor Fritz was 4-2 down in the second set before beating Lorenzo Sonego 7-6 (5) 6-4. The American next plays sixth-seeded David Goffin or Filip Krajinovic.

Experienced French player Richard Gasquet set up a second-round match with Andrey Rublev, who's coming off a title win on Sunday in Rotterdam. Gasquet beat Slovenian qualifier Blaz Rola 6-4 6-4.

All eyes will be on Roger Federer in the second round as he makes his return after a year on the sidelines.

Federer had a first round bye and will take on either Frenchman Jeremy Chardy or Britain's Dan Evans in his first match back.

With AAP

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