The British No 1, Jack Draper, produced another gutsy display to defeat Jiri Lehecka in three sets at the Qatar Open and reach the fifth ATP Tour final of his career. Lehecka had stunned Carlos Alcaraz in the quarter-finals in Doha and looked on course to claim another scalp when he won the first set.
Draper required a tie-break to get the match back on level terms before he showed his class in the decider to take victory by a 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-3 score.
Both Lehecka and Draper had spent more than two hours on court for their last-eight triumphs, but it did not prevent a high-quality start to their semi-final. A number of powerful blows were mixed in with touches of finesse with one particular Draper drop shot in the sixth game getting the crowd off their feet.
The former Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger was among those in attendance, but it failed to bring any initial luck for London-born Draper as Lehecka struck with his only break point of the first set to move in front.
Draper impressively kept his composure and after a nip-and-tuck second set, he upped his play in the tie-break to force a decider. This was Draper’s first tournament since he retired from the Australian Open with a hip issue, but he repeatedly outlasted Lehecka in several rallies to take control of the third set.
A first break was swiftly followed by a second as Draper edged out his Czech opponent in two hours and 23 minutes to set up a final clash against fifth seed Andrey Rublev on Saturday. World No 16 Draper has claimed eight victories from nine matches in 2025, with three of them five-set wins at the Australian Open to highlight his improved resilience.
“End of last year, I started to pick up some real momentum and was playing good tennis. I was building it and then – all of a sudden – I couldn’t play for about a month,” Draper said, with reference to a recent hip injury.
“I went out to Australia and my level was all over the place, but it gave me a lot of confidence coming through those five-set matches. Mentally that was really good for me, even though my tennis wasn’t there. When I came back it was about getting the tennis right, getting my body in the right place and building on that fitness I had done in Melbourne. Coming here, I felt better about my tennis and even better about my body.”
Rublev has triumphed in all three of his meetings with Draper and booked his place in the final with a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (5) win over Félix Auger-Aliassime.
The Russian teenage sensation Mirra Andreeva continued her giant-slaying exploits at the Dubai Tennis Championships by upsetting the sixth seed Elena Rybakina 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 in the semi-finals on Friday.
Denmark’s Clara Tauson set up a final showdown with Andreeva after overcoming Karolina Muchovaha 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-3.
Andreeva, who had stunned five-time grand slam champion Iga Swiatek in the quarters and former Wimbledon winner Marketa Vondrousova in the round of 32, is the youngest player to reach a WTA 1000 Final. The 17-year-old French Open semi-finalist also becomes the youngest player to beat three grand slam winners at a single event since her compatriot Maria Sharapova in 2004.
Rybakina, ranked seventh in the world, let a slender 2-1 lead slip in a tight opening set as momentum swung back and forth before Andreeva came out on top. However, Rybakina forced a decider after a close second set where she had built a 4-3 lead and just as she looked to run away with the win after racing to a 3-1 lead in the final set, Andreeva roared back to win five successive games. With the victory, world No 14 Andreeva also avenged her 2023 Beijing last-16 defeat by Rybakina.
“Last time we played it was a really tough match … she went for her shots and killed me in the end,” Andreeva said. “This time I knew she’d hit hard. I tried to fight for every point and kept believing.”
