DOHA/BENGALURU:
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. “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.”
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 quarter-finals, 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 semi-final 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.”
Comesana stuns Zverev in Rio
Argentinian Francisco Comesana stunned Australian Open finalist and world number two Alexander Zverev on Friday with a 4-6 6-3 6-4 win in the quarter-finals of the Rio Open, the biggest win of his career so far.
Comesana, ranked 86th in the world, turned heads in his Grand Slam debut match last year when he handed sixth seed Andrey Rublev a first-round exit from Wimbledon.
Friday’s win in Rio de Janeiro is the 24-year-old’s first victory over a top-five ranked opponent.
“I was repeating to myself throughout the match, ‘How good it is to be alive,'” Comesana said in his post-match interview.
“So, I was enjoying the entire match.” Germany’s Zverev landed three aces as he won the first set, but Comesana fought back, converting two break points to win the second. Zverev struggled with his serve in the decisive set, making three double faults as Comesana took the win.
“I think it is because (of) all the hard work I have been doing to be here. I have to be grateful for this moment and I am enjoying (it),” Comesana said. Comesana faces Frenchman Alexandre Muller in the semi-finals on Saturday. REUTERS
