Sir Andy Murray progressed to the Qatar Open semi-finals by beating Spain's Nicolas Almagro 7-6 (7-4) 7-5.
The top seed was broken in his opening service game by 31-year-old Almagro, ranked 44th in the world, but recovered to take the first set tie-break.
The pair exchanged breaks early in the second set before Murray prevailed.
Murray will face either Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or Tomas Berdych in the semis and, if he progresses, could meet Novak Djokovic in Saturday's final.
Djokovic, whom Murray replaced as world number one in November, beat veteran Radek Stepanek 6-3 6-3 in their quarter-final to book a meeting with Fernando Verdasco of Spain in the last four.