Fernando Verdasco put on a serving masterclass on Thursday to defeat fourth seed Gael Monfils 6-3, 7-5 and take his place in the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships semi-finals.
Verdasco, 33, broke the Monfils serve at the first opportunity and maintained the one break advantage throughout the first set to claim the opener 6-3.
The Spanish world No 35 looked to be in control of the match when he forged 4-2 ahead in the second set, but a short rain delay threatened to disrupt his rhythm.
Serving to stay in the match, Monfils held to make it 4-5 before the Frenchman broke Verdasco to love to level the second set.
However, Monfils handed the advantage immediately back to Verdasco, who duly closed out the match to love.
Verdasco will face Robin Haase in the semi-finals on Friday after the Dutchman defeated Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 in the earlier quarter-final.
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World No 66 Haase, who defeated fifth seed Tomas Berdych in the previous round on Wednesday, stormed to the first set, dropping just one point on serve to close out the opener in 25 minutes.
Dzumhur, who produced the shock of the first round be defeating 2016 champion Stan Wawrinka, managed to rally in the second set, breaking the Haase serve to open up a 4-1 lead.
Haase pegged back his Bosnian opponent to level the set at 4-4 only to drop serve when attempting to stay alive in the set.
After exchanging breaks in the first two games of the deciding set, Haase broke once again and managed to keep in front for the remainder of the match.
The Dutchman will face either fourth seeded Frenchman Gael Monfils or Fernando Verdasco of Spain for a place in the final.
* The National staff
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