Tunisian outsider Malek Jaziri continued his surprise run at the ATP Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships by beating Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas on Thursday to reach the semi-finals.
The 34-year-old wild card will next face third seed Roberto Bautista Agut, who beat Croatian Borna Coric 7-6, 6-4.
Jaziri overcame a second-set blip to see off qualifier Tsitsipas 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 and reach the third semi-final of his career.
Jaziri, who began his week by knocking out world No 4 Grigor Dimitrov in the first round, is the first Arab player to get this far in Dubai since Moroccan Younes El Aynaoui in 2002, who reached the final and lost to France's Fabrice Santoro.
The world No 117 is now just one win away from reaching his first-ever ATP Tour final.
"It was a big fight today, not that easy at all," Jaziri said. "I finished very late yesterday. I think I was in bed at 2:30, so I didn't sleep a lot.
"I tried to recover the most, I had to get ready today. It wasn't easy, i had less than 17 hours. I was up and down little bit today. But I'm happy to win this match."
Bautista Agut first to reach semis
Third seed Roberto Bautista Agut hammered down an overhead winner on match point to book the first semi-final place at the Dubai Championships on Thursday.
The Spaniard, playing the event for the sixth straight year, defeated Croatian Borna Coric 7-6, 6-4 in just under an hour and three-quarters.
French second seed Lucas Pouille was due to face the Japanese eighth seed Yuichi Sugita later.
Bautista Agut overcame six aces from Coric, who made his name in Dubai three years ago when he knocked out Andy Murray. The Spaniard, who won the title in Auckland in January, broke the Croatian twice to ensure his eighth win of the season.
"I am happy, I played very good tennis," Bautista Agut said. "It was not easy to beat Borna. He's very solid. He was playing very good serves. He was playing very aggressive -- it's my best match of the tournament."
______________
Read more
Jaziri feeling loved by the crowd as Tunisian reaches Dubai tennis semi-finals
Jaziri takes on Bautista Agut: Order of play for Day 5 of the Dubai tennis event
Tournament director is confident Dubai has not seen the last of Roger Federer
ATP Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships: Everything you need to know
______________
Pouille sets up semi-final clash against Krajinovic
French second seed Lucas Pouille held off the attacking game of Japan's Yuichi Sugita for a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory, as he bids for a second title of the season.
The world No 15 fired a pair of aces - his 13th and 14th of the match - in the concluding game to see off the 42nd-ranked Sugita, having fallen a set behind.
"I knew it would be a tough one, he's won plenty of matches in the past six, seven months. He's a very good player," said Pouille, a winner in Montpellier last month. "I knew I had to play some good tennis to win. After a lot of the first set, I started to be a bit more aggressive, especially in the return."
Pouille, a 2017 semi-finalist, will face Serbian seventh seed Filip Krajinovic, who beat Russia's Evgeny Donskoy 6-1, 6-2.
