British number one Jack Draper made a winning comeback on his Doha debut after beating Alexei Popyrin in straight sets to reach the second round of the Qatar Open.

Draper was back in action for the first time in over a month, since he retired when two sets down to Carlos Alcaraz at the Australian Open.

The 23-year-old had previously been troubled by a hip problem in the weeks leading up to Melbourne.

But Draper looked in decent shape as he broke big-serving Australian Popyrin twice when racing to the first set in just 27 minutes.

The second set was a tighter affair, with Draper having to save a set point at 5-6.

But he stood up well in the tie-break, finishing the job with a pair of aces to come through a good test of his fitness 6-2 7-6 (4).

Draper will face another Australian, qualifier Christopher O'Connell, in the second round.

If he wins that, Draper could meet Novak Djokovic, who is also back from injury and looking for a 100th career ATP title, in the quarter-finals.

Djokovic faces Italian former Wimbledon runner-up Matteo Berrettini in the first round on Tuesday.

Alcaraz, the top seed in Doha in the absence of banned world number one Jannik Sinner, beat 36-year-old Croatian Marin Cilic 6-4 6-4.