Jack Draper is through to the semi-finals of the Qatar Open after a comeback 4-6 6-4 6-3 victory against Italy’s Matteo Berrettini, on the same day top seed Carlos Alcaraz was knocked out.
Berrettini, who defeated Novak Djokovic earlier in the tournament, confidently claimed the opening set against Draper in Doha, but failed to get the job done in the second.
Instead, Draper remained in the fight before playing his best tennis in the third-set decider to clinch victory.
The eighth seed broke Berrettini’s serve for the second time to move 3-1 up in the decider and that proved decisive as he then fended off a break point against him to lead 5-2 before comfortably serving out for the match.
The Briton will next face Jiri Lehecka for a place in the final, after the Czech stunned Alcaraz in their quarter-final clash.
The winner of Friday’s semi-final between Draper and Lehecka – live on Sky Sports – will face either fifth seed Andrey Rublev or the unseeded Felix Auger-Aliassime in the final.
Alcaraz stunned by Lehecka in his quarter-final
Top-seed Alcaraz lost for just the second time this year when 25th-ranked Lehecka beat him 6-3 3-6 6-4.
Alcaraz’s only other defeat in 2025 was to Djokovic in the Australian Open quarter-finals. The 21-year-old Spaniard, ranked world No 3, won the Rotterdam Open earlier this month.
“I’ve talked with my team, with my coach, and honestly I don’t know what I could have done better,” Alcaraz said. “Honestly, I don’t know. It was kind of difficult feelings, I guess. I have to give credit to him as well, because when he was down, especially in the third set, he didn’t give up.”
Lehecka, 23, said: “The match was up and down since the beginning. So for me to win a match like that against a player like this is a super big achievement. I believed in myself. I knew that I had the level to produce that kind of tennis.
“I didn’t back down. I wanted to push him to his limits. The way I trusted my game was the key.”
Earlier, Rublev saved one match point and needed eight of his own to subdue second-seeded Alex de Minaur 6-1 3-6 7-6 (10-8).
Rublev is now into his fourth semi-final in Doha, where he won the title in 2020, and next faces Canada’s Auger-Aliassime, who beat Daniil Medvedev when the Russian retired after losing the first set 6-3.
“Unfortunately, I had food poisoning. Very disappointed to end my run here in Doha like this as I feel like I was playing well,” Medvedev said.
Auger-Aliassime said on court he thought Medvedev was “playing normal” until he retired.
“And then I broke, I held my serve. And he just told [the umpire] that he didn’t want to shake our hands because he was sick. I hope it’s nothing too bad. I was surprised,” the Canadian said.
Andreeva dumps Swiatek out in straight sets to march into Dubai semis
An inspired Mirra Andreeva beat world No 2 Iga Swiatek for the first time in her career with a dominant 6-3 6-3 victory as the Russian 17-year-old moved into the semi-finals of the Dubai Duty Free Championships.
With her victory, 12th seed Andreeva goes into the first WTA 1000 semi-final of her career, while Swiatek became another top seed to exit the tournament after world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka was knocked out on Wednesday.
Andreeva is also the youngest semi-finalist in Dubai since the tournament was first held in 2001 – a significant improvement from her last visit when she was knocked out in the first round last year.
“Honestly, I was really nervous before the match and we played in Cincinnati last year (where Swiatek won their quarter-final match) and it was pretty intense,” Andreeva said.
“So I just told myself that I played great and I just need to continue to play aggressive and go for my shots. It was also not easy with all the fans [supporting her], but I think we were even. I had a lot of people supporting me.”
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