IT took him longer than he would have liked, but Greece’s world number six, Stefanos Tsitsipas is through to the semi-finals at Dubai after downing difficult German, Jan-Lennard Struff.

A day after Struff strolled into the last eight with a 39-minute rout of Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili, the top 40 player took the first set off the number two seed, before matching it with the reigning ATP Finals winner. Tsitsipas eventually got it done 4-6 6-4 6-4 in an hour and 22 minutes, but it was far from simple, with Tsitsipas having to pull out his best tennis with six aces and a 64 per cent serving efficiency, winning 72 and 63 per cent of his first and second serve points respectively. He also broke twice to Struff’s once, with just the one break in each set for the entire match. Struff served up more aces (nine) but also had just 50 per cent of his first serves go in, as his second serve points won percentage of 53 per cent proved costly. Moving up to 33rd in the world, Struff is on the verge of a seeding at a Grand Slam if he can continue, while Tsitsipas is miles behind Daniil Medvedev but well ahead of Alexander Zverev, in sixth overall.

In other results, the number one and number three seeds won through to the semi-finals to set up a tantalising encounter. World number one and three-time winner here in Dubai, Novak Djokovic blew aside seventh seed Russian, Karen Khachanov 6-2 6-2, while world number nine, Gael Monfils won his eleventh consecutive match – with two titles in that run – with a 6-3 6-3 victory over compatriot, Richard Gasquet. In the other quarter final, Great Britain’s Daniel Evans upset sixth seed Russian, Andrey Rublev 6-2 7-6 to set up a semi-final date with Tsitsipas for a spot in the Dubai final.

QUARTER FINALS RESULTS:

[1] Novak Djokovic (SRB) defeated [7] Karen Khachanov (RUS) 6-2 6-2
[2] Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) defeated Jan-Lennard Struff (GER) 4-6 6-4 6-4
[3] Gael Monfils (FRA) defeated Richard Gasquet (FRA) 6-3 6-3
Daniel Evans (GBR) defeated [6] Andrey Rublev (RUS) 6-2 7-6