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Alexei Popyrin beat Matt Ebden in an all-Australian battle to reach his first ATP tour semi-final in the Singapore Tennis Open.

Alexei Popyrin's breakthrough year has continued with the Australian prospect beating his rejuvenated compatriot Matt Ebden to reach the semi-finals of the Singapore Tennis Open.

Popyrin, fresh from making a big impact at the Australian Open with his epic five-set win over David Goffin, ran out a 6-4 7-6 (9-7) winner over the more experienced Ebden in their quarter-final clash on Friday.

The victory sets up Popyrin's first-ever ATP Tour semi-final appearance against former US Open champion Marin Cilic on Saturday.

Ebden, fresh from an encouraging Australian Open adventure which saw him reach the final of the mixed doubles with Sam Stosur, had enjoyed a big win on Thursday against another compatriot John Millman to move into the quarter-final clash with Popyrin.

The 33-year-old Perth stalwart Ebden, who says he feels the coronavirus pandemic has actually refreshed his passion for tennis, had belied his current lowly status as Australia's 18th ranked man to defeat the Australian No.2.

But Sydney's 21-year-old Popyrin, who had won their only previous encounter when he was teenager three years ago, again prevailed in their 85-minute clash.

Australia's sixth-ranked man hammered down 14 aces and saved two set points at 4-6 down in the second set tiebreak before closing out the victory on his second match point.

Popyrin, the world No.114 now faces the huge test of Croatian star Cilic, the No.3 seed, who had a real battle to defeat Soowoo Kwon, of South Korea, 6-2 2-6 7-5 in his quarter-final.

If Popyrin can win that and reach a breakthrough final, he will also be propelled into the world's top 100.

The other last-four encounter will feature Moldovan Radu Albot, who booked his first ATP Tour semi-final place for 19 months by beating top-seeded Frenchman Adrian Mannarino 6-3 6-4, against the winner of Kazakhstan's Alexander Bublik and Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka.