Australia's No.1 had spent his 26th birthday on Monday on the practice courts at the Khalifa International Tennis Complex in Doha, and emerged in sharp mood the day after as he wore down some late resistance from the former Wimbledon quarter-finalist Safiullin to triumph 6-1 7-5.
While the 'Demon' laughed about his "first win s a 26-year-old", though, there was a major first-round shock as 37-year-old Novak Djokovic, on his return to action after injury derailed his Australian Open bid, got knocked out by the ever dangerous Matteo Berrettini 7-6 (7-4) 6-2.
In difficult, blustery conditions, it was an ideal start for de Minaur, who's been handed a pretty kind early draw in his latest quest to win an ATP 500 tournament after being beaten in the final in Rotterdam by Carlos Alcaraz nine days earlier.
De Minaur's record in the high-level 500 events has been exceptional since the start of 2023. Indeed, no player's won more than his 34 matches over the last three years, which featured two title triumphs in Acapulco.
But the ATP schedule this year has prompted de Minaur to take the "no-brainer" option of seeking huge ranking points on offer in three straight 500 tournaments in Rotterdam, Qatar and Dubai, rather than go for a hat-trick of Mexico triumphs.
The Australian's tour-leading 12th victory of the year turned out to be slightly harder work than he'd expected in the cool, humid and windy conditions.
"Oh man, they're tough days, these ones," smiled de Minaur.
"It's cold, it's windy, you don't really want to get out of bed, but once you step out on court, you've got to do what you've got to do to win, whether it's ugly tennis or pretty tennis.
"It was swirling wind, it wasn't constant, so it made it quite difficult to play and feel comfortable out there. So out went any sort of tactics you had for the match and it was all about surviving more than anything."Â
Some of de Minaur's tennis was 'pretty', though, and it was mostly Safiullin who served up the 'ugly' stuff with 44 errors, which were all classified as 'unforced' despite the constant pressure the Australian was exerting on his low-on-confidence opponent, who's winless in 2025.
De Minaur, recording his 200th tour-level win on hard courts, won five games on the bounce to sweep through the first set in 36 minutes, and it all looked plain sailing as he broke for 3-2 in the second and served for the match at 5-4.
But Safiullin went for broke, levelling at 5-5 only for the world No.6 to raise his game once more and immediately break back before serving out for a win that sets up a last-16 date with Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp, victor over Jordan's Abedallah Shelbayh 7-5 6-3.
Djokovic was not at his sharpest in his first singles since retiring with a hamstring injury in the Australian Open semi-final against Alexander Zverev as Berrettini, who the Serb beat in the 2021 Wimbledon final, enjoyed one of his inspired days.
"I didn't have any pain or discomfort, I was outplayed by just a better player today," shrugged Djokovic.
"I wasn't at my desired level, and it could be that I'm still not moving the way I want to move, but, I mean, I played without pain, so there is no excuse. He was just the better player. I think he played a master-class match, to be honest."
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