Murray, Djokovic Reach Doha SFs

World No. 1 Andy Murray continued his winning ways with a 7-6(4), 7-5 victory over Nicolas Almagro on Thursday at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open. The Scot’s win streak extended to 27 as he fought past the Spaniard and tricky conditions in two hours and nine minutes. Murray awaits the winner of the match between third seed Tomas Berdych and fifth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the semi-finals.

Defending champion Novak Djokovic also continued his impressive start to the 2017 ATP World Tour season by recording his 10th match win in Doha. The World No. 2 defeated 38-year-old qualifier Radek Stepanek 6-3, 6-3 in 91 minutes for a place in the last four.

“It’s same for both players, so there is not much you can do,” Djokovic said of the challenging windy conditions in Doha. “The force of the nature is like that. You have to accept and try to embrace it, really be one with the wind, otherwise it’s not going to be good day for you.

“I thought in terms of my performance, under the circumstances I put the level up again, which is great. So everything is going in the right direction.”

Djokovic will next face Fernando Verdasco, who withstood 13 aces from Ivo Karlovic’s racquet in a 6-2, 7-5 victory. Djokovic has an 8-4 lead against the Spaniard in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series, and won their most recent match 6-2, 6-2 in Doha last year.

“He’s a very complete player,” Djokovic said of Verdasco. “He’s got weapons from the forehand side, [a] big serve [and he’s] very strong.”

The top two players in the world practised ahead of their respective quarter-finals clashes, the Serbian tweeting:

Had a great warm up with @andy_murray today ?? pic.twitter.com/hM2sV06iSR

— Novak Djokovic (@DjokerNole) January 5, 2017

In doubles, Jeremy Chardy and Fabrice Martin upset top seeds and World No. 1 team Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares to reach the final. The all-French duo saved two of the four break points they faced for a 7-6(3), 7-6(6) victory in 96 minutes. They await the winners of the match between third seeds Vasek Pospisil/Radek Stepanek and Nicolas Almagro/Fernando Verdasco.