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Former winner Andrey Rublev reached the final of the Qatar Open on Friday with a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(5) win over Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime, and will meet Jack Draper in the decider after the Briton beat Czech Jiri Lehecka. Rublev, the winner in 2020, took the opening set with a break in the final game before Auger-Aliassime broke the Russian fifth seed’s serve early in the second set and hit three aces in the final game to serve out for the set. Auger-Aliassime fired 21 aces throughout the match, compared to Rublev’s eight, but the Canadian went out after the deciding set went to a tiebreak.
The Russian gained an early mini-break to lead 2-1, and that proved to be decisive. “It was super tough today. I felt like there was not much I could do if he was serving like that,” Rublev said.
“He was serving well, and I was just saying, okay, I cannot do much, this is one of the best servers on Tour. I just need to try to guess, and when I have a moment, just go for it.” ALSO READ: Dubai Tennis Championships 2025: Andreeva defeats Rybakina to become youngest WTA 1000 finalist Draper will bid to win his third ATP title after his 3-6, 7-6(2), 6-3 win over Lehecka, having triumphed in Stuttgart and Vienna last year.
The Czech, who beat top seed Carlos Alcaraz in the quarterfinals, took the opening set, but after they traded breaks of serve in the second, eighth seed Draper came out on top in the tiebreak. Draper broke to take a 4-3 lead in the final set and then broke again to wrap up the semifinal win and will now face Rublev for the fourth time. The Briton has lost all three of their previous meetings.
“I’m definitely a different player since I last played him,” said Draper, who last faced the Russian at the 2023 U.S. Open.
“Someone I respect massively. Someone who’s been top 10 for many years now. He’s going to come out and play incredibly well.
I watched him play here this week. He’s there every ball. So I’ll be ready for that one.
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