Doha: Defending champion Andrey Rublev expressed his determination to retain his title at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open after securing a place in the semi-finals with a straight-sets win over Stefanos Tsitsipas.

According to Qatar News Agency, Rublev, the fifth seed, described the victory as hard-fought and emphasized the importance of capitalizing on every opportunity to overcome the challenge. He is now set to face world number one Carlos Alcaraz, describing the upcoming match as both a real test and a major challenge.

In other matches, France's Arthur Fils advanced to the semi-finals after defeating Jiri Lehecka 6-3, 6-3. Fils remarked that the match was more challenging than the scoreline indicated and expressed contentment at reaching the semi-finals in Doha following a lengthy injury lay-off. He will compete against the winner of the quarter-final between Italy's Jannik Sinner and Czech 16th seed Jakub Mensik.