Nadal advances to semis at Qatar Open

Spanish world No. 1 Rafael Nadal beat Latvia’s Ernests Gulbis 75, 64 in the quarterfinals Thursday at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open.

Nadal will play Germany’s Peter Gojowczyk in the semifinals on Friday.

Gojowczyk, a qualifier, beat countryman Dustin Brown 63, 36, 76 (75).

The Spanish star had to grind out the match, which went one hour and 55 minutes.

Nadal has a 70 career record against Gulbis, a player ranked No. 24 in the world who always gives him trouble even though he fails to come up victorious.

The Spaniard, the top seed in Doha, had to grind out a 63, 67 (37), 63 Wednesday against Germany’s Tobias Kamke to advance to the quarters.

Nadal needed two hours and 24 minutes to beat Kamke and spent nearly two hours on the court with Gulbis.

In other action, Germany’s Florian Mayer beat Romania’s Victor Hanescu 64, 67 (810), 64, while France’s Gael Monfils rolled over Germany’s Daniel Brands 62, 61.

Monfils will play Mayer in the other semifinal.