Carlos Alcaraz came from behind to beat Karen Khachanov 6-7 (7), 6-4, 6-3 on Thursday and book his spot in the semi-finals of the Qatar Open<\/p>\n
The first set rumbled towards a tiebreak as neither Alcaraz nor Khachanov was able to force a breakthrough on the other’s serve.<\/p>\n
Khachanov then raced into a 6-1 lead in the breaker before finally converting set-point at the third time of asking.<\/p>\n
But seven-time Grand Slam winner Alcaraz forced his way back into the tie<\/a> by breaking Khachanov to 15 in the fifth game of the second set.<\/p>\n Alcaraz repeated the trick by again pouncing on the Russian’s serve at 2-2 to get his nose ahead in the third set.<\/p>\n The world number one then broke the seventh seed in the ninth game to seal his spot in the last four in style.<\/p>\n Playing his first tournament since completing his career Grand Slam at the Australian Open earlier in February,\u00a0Alcaraz<\/a> will next face Andrey Rublev<\/a> for a spot in the final in Doha \u00a0after the Russian won his quarter-final encounter with former world number three Stefanos Tsitsipas<\/a> 6-3, 7-6 (2)<\/a>.<\/p>\n “It was a really close and tight match,” Alcaraz said after his win.<\/p>\n