Top-seeded Carlos Alcaraz remained undefeated on the season, advancing to the final of the Qatar ExxonMobil Open with a 7-6 (3), 6-4 win over defending champion Andrey Rublev on Friday in Doha.
Alcaraz, a 22-year-old Spaniard who completed the career Grand Slam three weeks ago at the Australian Open, improved to 11-0 this year.
Getting past the fifth-seeded Russian was no easy task for Alcaraz, though. Rublev twice got breaks when Alcaraz was serving for the first set, and then Alcaraz needed six match points spread across two games to seal the match.
Awaiting Alcaraz in the final is France’s Arthur Fils, who defeated sixth-seeded Jakub Mensik of the Czech Republic 6-4, 7-6 (4) on Friday. Fils is through to his first tour-level final since winning the title at Tokyo in 2024.
Delray Beach Open
Fifth-seeded Tommy Paul prevailed in a rematch of the 2024 final at Delray Beach, Fla., beating top-seeded Taylor Fritz 6-4, 6-3 in an all-U.S. quarterfinal.
Paul never lost his serve while converting three of his 11 break chances against Fritz, the 2023 and 2024 Delray Beach champion.
In the semifinals, Paul will face Learner Tien after the fourth seed won another all-U.S. clash 7-6 (5), 3-6, 7-5 against eighth-seeded Frances Tiafoe.
Sebastian Korda of the United States rallied past second-seeded Casper Ruud of Norway 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 to earn a semifinal matchup against Flavio Cobolli. The third-seeded Italian bested Coleman Wong, a qualifier from Hong Kong, 7-5, 6-7 (7), 6-2.
Rio Open
After capturing an unusual tiebreaker, eighth-seeded Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina downed Portugal’s Jaime Faria 7-6 (4), 6-4 in the quarterfinals at Rio de Janeiro.
The first set featured no service breaks, but neither player could hold serve in the tiebreaker. The server lost each of the first eight tiebreaker points before Etcheverry held his serve for a 5-4 edge. Faria served and lost the next two points to end the set.
Etcheverry’s semifinal foe will be the Czech Republic’s Vit Kopriva, who got past Argentina’s Juan Manuel Cerundolo 6-4, 6-4.
The other semifinal will feature Ignacio Buse after the Peruvian topped Italy’s Matteo Berrettini 6-3, 2-6, 6-3. The last quarterfinal match was being contested Friday night, with Argentina’s Thiago Agustin Tirante opposing Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo.
–Field Level Media
