Cameron Norrie stepped up his preparations for the Australian Open with two wins in the same day in Saudi Arabia.
The British No.1 is one of several big names taking part in the Diriyah Tennis Cup this week, with a prize of $1,000,000 (£813,000) up for grabs for the winner. With a number of the world's top 10 players in action in the exhibition event, Norrie was one of eight unseeded players and therefore had to negotiate a tricky first round match against Nick Kyrgios.
The first round followed a best-of-three match tie-breaks to 10, with Norrie seeing off the Australian 10-6, 10-6. He then followed that up with a straight sets win (6-4, 6-4) over Stefanos Tsipitas under the regular scoring rules, to secure his place in the semi-finals.
Norrie will be back in action on Friday but admits he has earned a rest after taking on two top players in under 24 hours. "I got some really good rhythm this morning but it wasn't easy coming back out," Norrie told Eurosport. "I reckon I will sleep pretty well tonight after that one!"
Norrie is using the competition to prepare for the Australian Open, which gets underway on January 16 in Melbourne, although he has previously been criticised for joining up amid accusations of sportswashing.
But his focus remains on his performances on court and he will now hope to win two more matches - albeit in two days - to lift the trophy.
"Most of my pre-seasons, I never get the chance to play proper matches in stadiums and that will definitely help me," the British No.1 continued.
"I want to start the season well and I wanted to mix it up and there was no better place to do that than here. I am really enjoying the conditions, the tennis and the atmosphere so thanks to those that have come out."
Defending champion Daniil Medvedev saw off Alexander Zverev in less than 90 minutes to secure his spot in Friday's semi-final, while Stan Wawrinka came back from a set down to beat Andrey Rublev.
