See below for our daily tennis tips and best bets around the courts for Friday February 21 at the WTA Dubai and ATP Doha tournaments, including the top tips and players to back in our tennis betting markets!
World No.6 Elena Rybakina is the highest seed remaining at the Dubai Tennis Championships, where she takes on 12th seed Mirra Andreeva in a blockbuster semi-final.
Their only previous clash was at the 2023 China Open, with Rybakina overcoming a slow start to win 2-6 6-4 6-1.
The 2020 runner-up in this tournament, former Wimbledon champ Rybakina has improved to 10-3 in 2025 courtesy of wins over Moyuka Uchijima (6-3 6-2), top-10 rival Paula Badosa (4-6 7-6 7-6) and in-form Sofia Kenin (6-2 7-6) this week.
Halted by Aryna Sabalenka at the Brisbane International and Australian Open, Andreeva is one win away from her third WTA final – and by far her biggest to date – thanks to a blistering run through the field in Dubai.
The 17-year-old is yet to drop a set, disposing of Elina Avanesyan (6-2 6-1), Marketa Vondrousova (7-5 6-0), Peyton Stearns (6-1 6-1) and, for the first time, world No.2 Iga Swiatek (6-3 6-3).
Such has been Andreeva’s dominance this week, she is only the narrowest of outsiders in this one – and a maiden WTA 1000 decider looms for the phenom.
Clara Tauson has been one of the WTA’s surprise packets so far this season and is now vying for a spot in the most prestigious final of her career, lining up against former French Open finalist Karolina Muchova in the Dubai Tennis Championships semis.
Tauson won the Auckland Open, impressed at the Australian Open before running into Aryna Sabalenka in the third round, and reached the Linz Open semis.
But the Danish 22-year-old, ranked 38th, has gone to another level this week with wins over Rebecca Sramkova (7-6 6-0), Elina Svitolina (7-6 3-6 7-6), Sabalenka (6-3 6-2) and Linda Noskova (7-6 6-4).
World No.17 Muchova finished 2024 on fire with semi-final runs at the US Open and Ningbo Open either side of a runner-up effort at the China Open. This campaign started more modestly with a second-round loss to Naomi Osaka at the Australian Open.
After getting to the semis in Linz, Muchova has found her groove in Dubai with victories against Suzan Lamens (6-2 6-2), Emma Raducanu (7-6 6-4), Mccartney Kessler (6-3 1-6 7-6) and Sorana Cirstea (6-2 7-5).
Muchova reached WTA 1000 finals in Cincinnati in 2023 and Beijing last year. But the calibre of opponent Tauson – whose four WTA finals to date were all in 250-level events – has accounted for at this tournament so far makes her hard to resist as an underdog option here.
Resurgent duo Felix Auger-Aliassime and Andrey Rublev square off in the Qatar Open semis after progressing past higher-ranked quarter-final opponents.
Rublev boasts a 5-1 lead in the rivalry, including 2024 wins at the Rotterdam Open and Madrid Masters after dropping the first set in both.
After a slow start to the year, world No.10 Rublev powered past Alexander Bublik (6-3 6-4) and Nuno Borges (6-3 6-4) in the first two rounds, before earning his first win over a top-10 rival since August with a 6-1 3-6 7-6 result against Alex de Minaur.
Title-less in 2024, world No.23 Auger-Aliassime has already collected the Adelaide International and Open Occitanie trophies this season.
The Canadian outlasted Quentin Halys 4-6 6-4 7-6 before getting an armchair ride to the semis, with Hamad Medjedovic pulling out of their Round of 16 fixture and Daniil Medvedev retiring after Auger-Aliassime won the first set.
Rublev is the $1.65 favourite, but it would be no surprise to see the pair go to a deciding set for the sixth time in seven encounters against one another.
Giant-killer Jiri Lehecka and fellow 23-year-old Jack Draper meet for the third time in the Qatar Open semi-finals.
The head-to-head is one-all, with Lehecka winning their Adelaide International final showdown last January and Draper squaring up with a victory at the Paris Masters in October.
World No.25 Lehecka has started 2025 in fine fettle, winning the Brisbane International and reaching the last 16 at the Australian Open.
The Czech beat seventh seed Grigor Dimitrov and Fabian Marozsan in straight sets earlier this week, before stunning top seed Carlos Alcaraz 6-3 3-6 6-4 – the first top-three win of his career.
US Open semi-finalist Draper has been hampered by a hip injury that arose late loss season – forcing his retirement during a Round of 16 clash with Alcaraz at the Australian Open – but he has bounced back in only his second tournament of the season.
The world No.16 overwhelmed Aussies Alexei Popyrin (6-2 7-6) and Christopher O’Connell (6-2 6-1), then came from behind to beat big-serving Matteo Berrettini (4-6 6-4 6-3).
This promises to be a barnburner between two next-gen guns, but the confidence Lehecka has garnered from a momentous defeat of Alcaraz may be enough to give him a decisive edge here.