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Rublev, the 2020 Doha champion, squandered a 5-2 lead in the final set after De Minaur came up with some trademark scrambling to force a tie-break. Yet the 27 year-old regrouped in remarkable fashion, saving a match point himself, to seal his first win over a Top 10 player since August last year.

“When I had my first match point, I played really well,” said Rublev after his two-hour, 37-minute win. “I did everything amazing and he just played an unreal rally. He made the backhand down the line and I played a good volley. Then he makes a forehand pass down the line. In most of the matches, normally after these points, they win - it’s a turning [point].

“I then started to get a bit more tight and more emotional, I was a bit unlucky. Then when I lost my serve, I said ‘Okay, whatever, if I'm gonna lose, at least just try to do your best until the end'.”

Rublev is into his fourth semi-final in Doha. He will next face Felix Auger-Aliassime, who advanced after Daniil Medvedev was forced to retire from their quarter-final clash with food poisoning.

De Minaur’s notably improved serve deserted him in the opening set, during which Rublev commanded from the baseline and exploited the 46 per cent (12/26) of first serves that the Australian landed with his aggressive return position. The 26 year-old seemed to have rediscovered his form at the right time, however, once he rallied from 2-5 to force a deciding-set tie-break.

It would have been easy for Rublev to lose control after he squandered seven match points, including two on his own serve, at 5-3 in the final set and 8/7 in the tie-break. Yet the former champion kept his cool and continued to apply pressure from the baseline, which was ultimately key to his victory.

“I know this feeling of saving some matches like that,” said Rublev when asked of De Minaur’s response to the match-point saves. “When you save one crazy match point out of nowhere that looks like the match is done, and then it starts to turn around. You start to have this focus that helps you a lot. 

"You're not stressed anymore, and the other guy starts to stress, he starts to rush. I know how it is because I've been in this situation. So that's why when I started to stress and I lost myself I was like, ‘Okay, at least just fight until the end'.”