Rublev Comes Through a 'Super Tough Match' To Reach Qatar Open Final

Andrey Rublev, who needed eight match points to beat Alex de Minaur of Australia in the quarterfinal, continued to thrive in tough conditions as he overcame Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada in a hard-fought encounter to book a place in the final of the Qatar Open ATP 500 event in Doha.

Andrey Rublev celebrates his win. @ Organisers

Rublev hung in there to defeat the Canadian 7-5, 6-4, 7-6(5) to book his third summit clash in Doha. The Russian withstood 21 aces from his big-serving opponent to prevail in a two-hour, 47-minute semifinal clash on Friday night.

Rublev, who will face Jack Draper in the final, was quoted as saying by the ATP Tour as saying.

[It took] everything. It was super tough today:

Rublev said

I felt like there was not much I could do if he is serving [like that]. I just needed to be 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.' At 6-5 was the only match point I had, a good [opportunity], and I missed by a little bit. But it happened.

This is his first final at the ATP Tour since Montreal last August. Rublev had earlier finished runner-up in the Qatar Open in 2019 and bagged his first title in Doha in the next year.

Rublev said

It feels amazing [to be in a third Doha final], but at the same time what can I do?. If it doesn’t happen, next week I have another tournament, another opportunity. I am happy that I am back in terms of my level. I think I am playing better and better week by week, so I’m improving. I will keep the main focus, even if I don’t win this final, just to keep improving.

The win helped Rublev improve to 6-1 in his ATP head-to-head series with Auger-Aliassime. Rublev thus also became the ninth player to reach 10 ATP 500 finals since the series was introduced in 2009. The 27-year-old is a five-time champion at that level, and a 16-time ATP Tour titlist overall.

Draper battled from behind to beat Jiri Lehecka, who had stunned Carlos Alcaraz a day earlier, 3-6, 7-6(2), 6-3 and reach his fifth tour-level final.

The British lefty fired 14 aces and won 88 percent (45/51) of his first-serve points, according to Infosys ATP Stats, to triumph after two hours and 22 minutes and improve to 2-1 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series against the Czech.