By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Thursday, February 20, 2025
Andrey Rublev edged Alex de Minaur 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(8) to advance to the Doha semifinals—and a showdown vs. Felix Auger-Aliassime.
Photo credit: Clive Brunskill/Getty
Andrey Rublev danced with the Demon—and stared stress down—converting his eighth match point to prevail in a Doha thriller.
Showing his toughness against a tenacious Alex de Minaur, Rublev gutted out a 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(8) victory to advance to the Qatar Exxon Mobil Open semifinals.
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This draining two hour, 37-minute triumph escalated into a tense tiebreaker that saw Rublev save a match point before finally converting his eighth match point.
World No. 10 Rublev scored his first Top 10 win since he upset No. 1 Jannik Sinner en route to the ATP Canada 1000 final in Montreal, bowing to another Aussie, Alexei Popyrin.
Despite squandering a 5-2 third-set lead—and seeing the spirited Aussie live up to his Speed Demon nickname—as today's match spiraled and swirled with shotmaking and momentum shifts, Rublev kept his competitive calm.
That is not an easy feat for a man known to go nuclear and smash his Head racquet to smithereens over an unforced error.
After seeing de Minaur deny match points at 2-5 and 3-5, Rublev suffered severe emotional trauma as the Aussie staved off three more match points holding to level the decider at 5-all.
Enduring that heartbreak, Rublev said he adopted a simple mindset: Give it his all and accept whatever happens.
“When I had my first match point, I played really well,” Rublev said. “I did everything amazing and he just played an unreal rally. He made the backhand down the line and I played a good volley.
"Then he makes a forehand pass down the line. In most of the matches, normally after these points, they win, it’s a turning....
“I then started to get a bit more tight and more emotional, I was a bit unlucky. Then when I lost my serve, I said ‘Okay, whatever, if I'm gonna lose, at least just try to do your best until the end'.”
Credit de Minaur's fierce fightback for helping him earn a match point at 6-5 in the tiebreaker. Rublev erased match point with a firm forehand winner then whipped an ace down the T for a sixth match point of his own.
An assertive de Minaur hit a volley, Rublev had a look at a running forehand pass, but netted it. The feisty Aussie saved a sixth match point about 30 minutes after denying the first match point.
On match point No. 7, Rublev sent a backhand long on the eighth shot of the rally.
On the next point, de Minaur again tried attacking but pushed his approach long to face an eighth match point. This time, Rublev, who kept his head and emotions in check, finally closed on an errant backhand.
The 27-year-old Rublev leveled his head-to-head with de Minaur at four wins apiece. Rublev will face Felix Auger-Aliassime for a spot in the final.
World No. 23 Auger-Aliassime won the first set of his quarterfinal against Daniil Medvedev, 6-3, when the former world No. 1 retired citing food poisoning.
"Unfortunately I had food poisoning," Medvedev said in a statement issued by the ATP. "Very disappointed to end my run here in Doha like this as I feel like I was playing well. I look forward to coming back next year."
Playing for his 17th career title, Rublev has beaten Auger-Aliassime in five of six meetings.