Rafael Nadal is off to a strong start this year and the Spaniard will look to extend his winning run, when he collides with Ilya Marchenko of Ukraine in the semifinal of the 2016 Qatar Open in Doha.

Nadal advanced to the semis after escaping with a hard-earned 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 win against Andrey Kuznetsov of Russia in their quarterfinal showdown. Kuznetsov broke Nadal four times in the match, but the former world No. 1 had enough gas in his tank to avoid an upset.

"He played so crazy with amazing shots," Nadal said of Kuznetsov via USA Today. "It's true that I missed the serve more times than what I wanted. I think I played a great third set, because if not, I will not be in that semifinal."

Nadal, who defeated Pablo Carreno Busta in the opening round and Robin Haase in the second round, will be a heavy favorite heading into the semifinals. However, the 29-year-old said that there should be no room for complacency because Marchenko is playing at a high level in the tournament.

"I saw him play during the whole week," Nadal said of Marchenko. "He's playing fantastic. The match against David was great, and today against Jeremy he played amazing, too. He's playing with big confidence."

Marchenko kicked off the tournament with a straight-set win against fourth seed David Ferrer, which was followed by another comfortable 6-4, 6-2 victory against Teymuraz Gabashvili. The 28-year-old Ukrainian also pulled off an upset win against seventh seed Jeremy Chardy in the quarterfinals.

The winner of the Nadal-Marchenko match will advance to the final against either Novak Djokovic or Tomas Berdych, who will also collide on Friday.

Djokovic escaped with a difficult 6-3, 7-5 victory over eight seed Leonardo Mayer of Argentina on Thursday to advance to the semifinal. Mayer looked poise to force a third set but struggled with his serves in the 10th game of the set, allowing the top-seeded serve to recover from a 4-5 deficit.

On the other hand, Berdych, the third seed in the tournament, booked a date with Djokovic in the semifinal after running away with a 6-3, 6-2 win against Kyle Edmund in the quarterfinal. The 30-year-old Czech defeated Sergiy Stakhovsky and Damir Dzumhur in the first two rounds, respectively.

The Qatar Open 2016 semifinal matches will kick at 10:30 a.m. ET. Fans can catch the action via live steam on TennisTV, while live scores and updates will be available on this link.