Russia's Andrey Rublev reached his third Qatar Open final on Friday after a gruelling three-set triumph over Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada.
Fifth-seeded Rublev, the 2020 champion at the Gulf tournament, battled to a 7-5, 6-4, 7-6 (7/5) win over Auger-Aliassime, who fired down 21 aces in the two-hour, 47-minute semi-final.
"It took everything. It was super tough today," said Rublev.
"I felt like there was not much I can do if he is serving like that. I just needed to be really lucky to break him.
"He was serving well and I was just saying, 'Okay, I cannot do much, this is one of the best servers on Tour. I just need to try to guess and when I have a moment, just go for it'."
Rublev faces either eighth seed Jack Draper or Carlos Alcaraz's conquerer Jiri Lehecka in Saturday's final.