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No. 5 seed Andrey Rublev of Russia advanced to face No. 8 Jack Draper of Great Britain in the final of the Qatar ExxonMobil Open after each player won his respective semifinal match Friday in Doha.
Rublev outlasted Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (5) in two hours and 46 minutes. Auger-Aliassime made Rublev work for his result — not only did he hit a whopping 21 aces and saved 7 of 8 break points, he saved three match points. One was in the 12th game of the third set, and two more came in the ensuing tiebreaker.
The other semifinal also went the distance, as Draper rallied past the Czech Republic’s Jiri Lehecka 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-3. Draper hit 14 aces on his way to winning an overwhelming 45 of 51 first-serve points (88.2 percent).
Rio Open
Fifth seed Sebastian Baez of Argentina moved on to the semifinals in Rio de Janeiro by defeating Taiwanese qualifier Chun-Hsin Tseng 6-4, 6-1.
Baez is set for a meeting with countryman and lucky loser Camilo Ugo Carabelli, who got past Portugal’s Jaime Faria 7-6 (5), 6-4.
Two more quarterfinal matches were slated for Friday evening. Top seed Alexander Zverev of Germany will face off with Argentine Francisco Comesana, and fourth seed Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina will battle France’s Alexandre Muller.
–Field Level Media