AFP, Doha :
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, 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 over the course of 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 can do if he is serving like that,” Rublev said.
