Second seed Andrey Rublev reached the semifinals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships after his opponent Sebastian Korda retired in the second set of their quarterfinal clash on Thursday.
Rublev, the world number five from Russia, was leading 6-4 4-3 when the 23-year-old American decided to retire due an injury.
The ATP has yet to reveal the exact nature of Korda’s injury.
Korda was bidding to reach the semifinals in Dubai in his first appearance, 25 years after his father, Petr Korda, the 1998 Australian Open champion, played here for the third and final time.
Rublev didn’t look in complete control in windy conditions, but he did enough to take the first set.
The 2022 champion who also reached the final last year, will play Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan who entered the semifinal after his opponent, Jiri Lehecka of the Czech Republic retired due to an injury.
Bublik was leading 6-4 4-1 when Lehecka retired.
In the next two singles quarterfinals on Thursday, defending champion and world number four Daniil Medvedev of Russia will take on Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain and Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz will face Frenchman Ugo Humbert.