medvedev

Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev stayed on course toward a potential rematch for the title at the Dubai Championships after the Russians won their quarterfinals Thursday.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev stayed on course toward a potential rematch for the title at the Dubai Championships after the Russians won their quarterfinals Thursday.

Medvedev, the defending champion and No. 1 seed, defeated eighth-seeded Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-2, 6-3 to set up a semifinal against fifth-seeded Ugo Humbert.

The second-seeded Rublev advanced when Sebastian Korda retired with an unspecified injury. Rublev was up 6-4, 4-3 at the time.

Rublev will face seventh-seeded Alexander Bublik, who reached the last four after his Czech opponent Jiri Lehecka also retired with an injury. The big-serving Bublik was leading 6-4, 4-1.

One year ago, Medvedev defeated Rublev 6-2, 6-2 in the all-Russian final at the hard-court tournament. The 2021 U.S. Open champion has 20 singles titles — 18 on hard courts — but has never won the same event twice.

Humbert advanced by beating third-seeded Hubert Hurkacz 3-6, 7-6 (8), 6-3 in the last match of the evening. The Frenchman saved three match points in the second-set tiebreaker en route to his second win over Hurkacz since losing to him at the Australian Open in January.