Third seed Andrey Rublev reached the semifinals of the Hamburg Open for the third time on Thursday after he beat Italy's Luciano Darderi 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.
Rublev, the world number 17, broke Darderi twice to claim the first set in 33 minutes.
Darderi won the second set but was broken in just the second game of the third as the Russian took control before closing out the match.
Rublev won on the Hamburg clay in 2020, having lost in the final in 2019.
"I'm happy to be in the semifinal," Rublev said.
"These were a couple of matches that I needed. I need wins. I needed to struggle."
Final 4️⃣ in Hamburg! 🙌@hamburgopenatp | #bitpandahamburgopen pic.twitter.com/OqFYKlRdCE
— ATP Tour (@atptour) May 22, 2025
The 27-year-old will next face sixth-seeded Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, who beat France's Alexandre Muller 7-6 (7/4), 6-7 (6/8), 6-3 after almost three hours.
Muller, who eliminated top seed Alexander Zverev on Wednesday, broke first in the opening set but Auger-Aliassime broke back immediately and went on to win the tie-break.
The second set was a mirror reflection of the opener, with the Canadian first to break but Muller hitting back before taking the set in another tie-break.
Auger-Aliassime gained control of the match in the third set, breaking the Frenchman twice including in the final game to seal his place in the semis.
Earlier on Thursday, Italian Flavio Cobolli beat Spain's Roberto Bautista Agut 7-6 (7/4), 6-0 and Argentine Tomas Etcheverry moved past Czech Jiri Lehecka 7-5, 6-3.
Etcheverry will face Cobolli on Friday in the other semifinal.