Jack Draper is one win away from claiming a third ATP title, having reached the final in Doha in his first tournament back after a month-long injury layoff.

Andrey Rublev stands between the British No1 and a return that he would have dreamt of during his time out, but perhaps not truly thought was possible. Win or lose in Saturday’s final, set to start at 3pm UK time, Draper will leave Doha pleased with the quality of his tennis and the state of his hip.

The world No16’s run at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open, upgraded this year to an ATP 500 event, goes into the fifth and final match of an intense week after his 3-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-3 comeback victory against Jiri Lehecka. A win in the final would bring the 23-year-old his second hard-court title, having triumphed in Vienna in 2024, and put him on the verge of entering the top ten for the first time.

The hip injury that forced Draper to retire hurt against Carlos Alcaraz at January’s Australian Open, which he described at the time as a ticking time bomb, did not appear to worry him here. He moved freely off both flanks, and his court coverage actually improved as the night progressed.

Four matches in five days is a heavy workload and Saturday’s challenge will be a difficult one against Rublev, who won this title in 2020 and finished runner-up here in 2018. The world No10, who holds a 3-0 head-to-head record over Draper, defeated Félix Auger-Aliassime 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (7-5) in the first semi-final, a marathon match that lasted two hours and 46 minutes.

“In the first set, I put in a sloppy game and Jiri came out with power,” Draper said. “In the second I was holding a bit easier and putting a lot more pressure behind his serve.

“I felt more and more positive about my tennis and physically better as the match went on, and I’m proud of the way I competed out there.

“At the end of last year, I started to pick up some real momentum and then all of a sudden I couldn’t play for a month. In Australia my level was all over the place, but mentally it was really good for me.”

In the eighth game of the night, the fourth on the Draper serve, Lehecka created the first break point, and an unforced error from Draper gave the Czech the break for 5-3. It was only the second time all week that the Draper serve had been broken.

In the next game it was Draper with the break points; on both occasions Lehecka’s serve was not returned. Lehecka’s work with a baseball coach to improve the mechanics of his serve appears to be paying dividends. After those scares, the 23-year-old Czech served out the set.

Draper’s first-serve percentage of 48 in the first set was disappointing, particularly given that when it was accurate, it was near-unstoppable: he lost only one point behind his first serve in the opening set. In the second set, he improved to 74 per cent behind the first serve.

The tide appeared to turn in the fourth game of the second set. A drop shot — so deft that Draper felt it deserved a hold-the-pose moment — sent the Briton on his way to the first break of serve of the set. It lasted less than five minutes, though, as Lehecka broke straight back for 3-2.

Seven games on serve brought a tie-break, which was won fairly comfortably by Draper. An ace set up three set points, of which he needed only one.

A gruelling rally, at 1-1, left Draper on his haunches and gave Lehecka brief hope, but Draper found a second wind to finish strongly. It was an emphatic finish for a man who has missed so much tennis this year.

There will be a British winner in the doubles final, with Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski taking on Lloyd Glasspool and Julian Cash in an all-British affair at about 11am on Saturday.