DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Andrey Rublev saved one match point and needed eight of his own to subdue Alex de Minaur 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (8) in the Qatar Open quarterfinals on Thursday.

The tortuous journey to the win prompted Rublev to joke about de Minaur, "I wanna punch him."

The Russian fifth seed wasted a 5-2 lead in the last set against the Australian second seed, who forced the tiebreak with remarkable scrambling.

But after 2½ hours, Rublev was through to his fourth semifinals in Doha, where he won the title in 2020.

He'll next face Canada's Félix Auger-Aliassime, who beat Daniil Medvedev when the Russian retired after losing the first set 6-3.

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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis