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Rublev to meet Draper in Qatar final

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18 hoursTennis

Andrey Rublev has booked his place in a third Qatar Open final and will face Jack Draper in the showpiece match on Saturday.

Rublev, who won in Qatar in 2020, was pushed all the way in his semi-final on Friday but held off Felix Auger-Aliassime to triumph 7-5 4-6 7-6 (7-5) in two hours and 46 minutes.

Auger-Aliassime served exceptionally well, hitting 21 aces to Rublev's eight, while also successfully defending seven of the eight break points he faced throughout.

Four of those were also set points in the opener, but the Canadian managed to hold off all of them before losing his next service game to give Rublev the first set.

Rublev's serve was broken early in the second set, and he could not recover, but he outlasted his opponent in a marathon third set. Despite failing to convert a match point when 6-5 up, he took control once again in the tie-break to get over the line.

"[It took] everything. It was super tough," said Rublev.

"I felt like there was not much I could do if he was serving [like that]. I just needed to be really lucky to break him.

"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'."

Rublev improved his head-to-head record to 6-1 against Auger-Aliassime, becoming the ninth player to reach 10 ATP-500 finals since the format was introduced in 2009. He has won five of those.

Draper also had to go the distance as he saw off Jiri Lehecka with a comeback victory.

The Brit lost the first set but came out on top 3-6 7-6 (7-2) 6-3 in just under two-and-a-half hours, to reach his fifth tour-level final.

Lehecka, who had beaten Carlos Alcaraz in the quarter-final, reeled off three straight games to take the first set, and traded breaks with Draper early in a tight second, but Draper found the edge. He won six straight points in the tie-break to force the decider.

He forced six break points in the final set, though it took until the fourth attempt for him to convert one during a four-game winning run in which Lehecka was no match.

Despite a disappointing first set, Draper fired 14 aces and won 88% (45/51) of his first-serve points. He is already set to rise to a career-high ranking on Monday but will start the week in 11th if he wins a third tour-level title on Saturday.