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 Lehecl(a.

Rublev, winner in 2020, took the opening set with a break in the final game, before Auger-Aliassime broke the Russian fifth seed`s serveearly 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 Ican 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 tiebrealc Draper brol(e 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 pre-vious meetings.

`I`m definitely a different player since I last played him,` said Draper, who last faced the Russian at the 2023 US 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.`-Reuters