Auger-Aliassime through to semis at Qatar Open, setting up rematch with Medvedev

Canadian tennis star Felix Auger-Aliassime defeated Spain's Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-4, 7-6 (5) Thursday at the Qatar Open, setting up a semifinal against nemesis Daniil Medvedev.

Auger-Aliassime, seeded second at the ATP 250 hard court event, fired eight aces and won 86 per cent of first service points in a win over the seventh-seeded Spaniard that took one hour 48 minutes to complete.

The 22-year-old from Montreal faced just two break points in the match, with both coming in Game 6 of the second set. Auger-Aliassime induced Davidovich Fokina into unforced errors to come back from 15-40 and scored a crucial hold to tie the set 3-3.

Auger-Aliassime scored the only break of the match in Game 9 of the first set before serving for the win.

Next up is Medvedev, the Russian third seed who improved his career record against the Canadian to 5-0 with a 6-2, 6-4 win last week in the quarterfinals of the Rotterdam Open, a tournament that Auger-Aliassime won in 2022.

WATCH | Auger-Aliassime falls to Medvedev in Rotterdam:

Meanwhile, Leylah Fernandez of Laval, Que., and American partner Bethany Mattek-Sands lost 7-5, 7-5 to Russians Veronika Kudermetova and Liudmila Samsonova in the quarterfinals of the Dubai Tennis Championship on Thursday.

The Russians won 68 per cent of their first serves, compared to 58 per cent for Fernandez and Mattek-Sands.

Kudermetova and Samsonova will meet the team of Ukraine's Lyudmyla Kichenok and Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko in the semifinals.

Fernandez was bounced from singles play Tuesday, falling 6-1, 6-1 to world No. 1 Iga Swiatek of Poland.