DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev stayed heading in the right direction towards a possible rematch for the title on the Dubai Championships after the Russians gained their quarterfinals Thursday.
Medvedev, the defending champion and No. 1 seed, defeated eighth-seeded Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-2, 6-3 to arrange a semifinal in opposition to fifth-seeded Ugo Humbert.
The second-seeded Rublev superior when Sebastian Korda retired with an unspecified damage. Rublev was up 6-4, 4-3 on the time.
Rublev will face seventh-seeded Alexander Bublik, who reached the final 4 after his Czech opponent Jiri Lehecka additionally retired with an damage. The massive-serving Bublik was main 6-4, 4-1.
One 12 months in the past, Medvedev defeated Rublev 6-2, 6-2 within the all-Russian ultimate on the hard-court match. The 2021 U.S. Open champion has 20 singles titles — 18 on onerous courts — however has by no means gained the identical occasion twice.
Humbert superior by beating third-seeded Hubert Hurkacz 3-6, 7-6 (8), 6-3 within the final match of the night. The Frenchman saved three match factors within the second-set tiebreaker en path to his second win over Hurkacz since shedding to him on the Australian Open in January.
