Rublev, Moutet enter Qatar ExxonMobil Open semifinals

Doha, Qatar: Russia's Andrey Rublev continued his march at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open with a 6-4, 6-3 victory against Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert to move into the semifinals on Friday.

The match, which was postponed to Friday after Thursday's intermittent rains, was again constantly under the threat of dark clouds, but second seed Rublev made sure his game shone through.

Rublev, the runner up in Doha in 2018, converted four of his eight breakpoints and never allowed Herbert, who had the more powerful serve, any sort of advantage.

Rublev will meet Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic, who defeated Marton Fucsovics of Hungary on Thursday, in the semifinals later on Friday.

Meanwhile, Fernando Verdasco's adventure ended in the quarterfinals where he was beaten by qualifier Corentin Moutet.

Verdasco showed plenty of fight to come back from a set down to draw level and still had enough punch in his shots, but the 20-year old simply had too much of power in his young legs.

Moutet broke Verdasco in the first game of the third set, and although the Spaniard broke back in the fourth game, the Frenchman immediately broke again and did not relinquish that advantage.

Moutet's reward is a semifinal meeting with top seed Stan Wawrinka, who cruised past Slovenia's Aljaz Bedene  6-3, 6-4.