The 39-year-old was playing his first competitive match in 14 months, having undergone knee surgery since his last appearance at the 2020 Australian Open.
Evans and Federer have practiced together over recent weeks and combined to produce a high-quality affair in Doha, with the veteran showing phenomenal staying power after so long away to book a quarter-final meeting with Nikoloz Basilashvili.
The only break point of the opening set came in the ninth game, with Federer holding and coming through two deuces.
World number 28 Evans boomed down a pair of aces and held to love after that minor setback and reeled off four consecutive points to lead 4-2 in the breaker.
Federer saved one set point and converted his third with a wonderful backhand passing shot.
A battle that eventually lasted two hours and 26 minutes appeared unlikely as Federer sought to press home his superiority, Evans coming into the net to repel a break point in the opening game of set two.
But the Briton was the first man to make a dent on the other's serve, with Federer unusually ragged as he pulled a forehand then a backhand wide from deuce to go 1-3 behind.
The Swiss could not capitalise on a break-back point in the next game and, having been taken to deuce in all previous games in the set, Evans produced back-to-back aces and held to love to square the match.
Federer's first-serve percentage fell from an imperious 83 to 58 between sets one and two and he looked tired when slipping to 0-30 at 2-2 in the decider before recovering to hold.
Evans, who also went the distance against Jeremy Chardy on Sunday, was similarly robust under pressure – a serve-volley and his formidable backhand slice seeing him through a match-point game at 4-5 – but he could not keep the insatiable Federer at bay as a majestic backhand down the line settled the argument.
Federer has not played competitively since his semi-final exit at the 2020 Australian Open – the 20-time grand slam champion having undergone knee surgery last year.
The 39-year-old Swiss superstar opted not to travel to Melbourne for this year's Australian Open, but he is set to make his comeback in Doha.
Federer, who holds the record for most Qatar Open titles with three – will start his campaign against either Jeremy Chardy or Daniel Evans at the ATP 250 tournament.
"It's been a long year in some ways, especially rehabbing, being on crutches once and then for a second time, and finally I'm back on a tennis court again, working out, playing sets, playing points," Federer said.
"It's a true pleasure, it's a privilege actually after all this time. I didn't expect it to go as long as it did, we are where we are, I'm so excited to be back on a match court, you know, in a few days here.
"I'm really curious to find out how it's going to go, obviously there's an amazing amount of questions marks surrounding my comeback for me personally.
"I don't know what to expect, I know that expectations from myself are extremely low, and I'm just very happy that I'm playing a tournament again, regardless of the outcome of this event."
On whether he had doubts over returning, Federer added: "You always do have doubts, you know, when you have surgery, there are always days when you feel better and worse. But I think overall I am a very positive person, I have a great team around myself, my family, I am also very distracted, and you know, the idea was to be fully fit again, one day. For life or for tennis.
"So equally important to me, actually life is a little bit more important to me, I wanna go skiing and play basketball, I wanna go playing ice hockey, play tennis in the future, with my children or exhibition matches, you name it, so it's definitely worth it to go through all that pain you know. But the goal was, this is not I'm going to go out, I'm not happy with my knee, we're going to fix it, and then I'm going to come back.
"For me there was no other story to it, and rehab wasn't as hard as maybe people make it seem, even though people around me are very impressed how I go about it, but for me it's only but normal to be really, really professional about it."
World number 12 Fognini was facing Feliciano Lopez, the oldest player in the draw at 38 who had already won a match earlier in the day as the tournament schedule caught up following weather delays.
Lopez beat Pablo Andujar in three close sets before coming from behind to prevail against Italian Fognini, winning 3-6 6-4 6-3 in just under two hours.
"The first match was tough for me, but I think it was very helpful because it was my first singles match of the season," said Lopez after his day of double duty.
"Without that match, I don't think I would have played the way I did against Fabio."
Australian John Millman recovered from a set down to oust Russian Khachanov 4-6 6-3 6-3.
Denis Shapovalov is the highest seed left in the draw, having defeated fellow Canadian Vasek Pospisil 6-4 7-6 (7-2).
Defending champion Tennys Sandgren is out after another former winner of the event, John Isner, triumphed 7-6 (7-3) 6-7 (1-7) 6-3 in an all-American round-of-16 encounter.
Seeds Benoit Paire and Hubert Hurkacz made it to the quarter-finals, as did Kyle Edmund and Ugo Humbert, who will now play Shapovalov.
At the Adelaide International, Felix Auger-Aliassime won his first match against wildcard James Duckworth, a 6-3 7-6 (7-0) win sending the second seed into the last eight.
Auger-Aliassime said: "Now I'm at a point where I was top 20 in the world. I reached three finals. Now every tournament I play, I play to win. I come, I want to reach the final. I want to give myself a chance to win titles."
Qatar Open champion Andrey Rublev continued his momentum with a 6-3 6-3 win over Sam Querrey and fourth seed Pablo Carreno Busta also progressed in straight sets.
There was a shock, though, as seventh seed Jan-Lennard Struff was beaten 6-3 6-4 by wildcard Alex Bolt.
Albert Ramos-Vinolas joined Bolt in the quarter-finals, as did qualifiers Lloyd Harris and Tommy Paul.
The Australian had been one of the tournament's major draws as the home favourite but now cannot compete and that has subsequently thrown his Australian Open participation into question.
Fognini took full advantage of the situation as he saw off lucky loser Daniel Altmaier 6-3 7-5 to move into the second round.
There he will be joined by – among others – David Goffin, with the Belgian winning a game for the first time in eight months as he beat Facundo Bagnis 6-4 6-4 after an injury-ravaged 2021.
Fifth-seed Lorenzo Sonego was the highest seed in action and he was made to work hard for his 3-6 6-3 7-5 win over Hugo Gaston, needing almost two hours and 45 minutes to get the job done.
The day's other game saw Jordan Thompson win on home soil, beating Marcos Giron fairly comfortably 6-4 6-2.
At the Adelaide International 2, Tommy Paul came out on top in the battle of the Americans as he cruised to an impressive 6-2 6-3 win over Frances Tiafoe in just 69 minutes.
Local boy Aleksandar Vukic clinched the biggest scalp of his professional career as the world number 156 – a wild card entry for the tournament – beat Alexander Bublik 7-6 (7-5) 6-2.
Arthur Rinderknech and Jaume Munar also progressed, the latter defeating Australia's John Millman.
Fritz, 25, came into the tournament sitting at a career-best rank of seventh, and he did not lose his first set in Delray Beach until the final.
The top seed, Fritz was nearly perfect in the opening set, hitting 15 winners with only one unforced error and taking 72 per cent (28-of-39) of the total points. Kecmanovic did not hit a single winner in the set.
The 23-year-old Serbian showed far more fight in the second, and after saving all three of Fritz's break-point opportunities – including one match point – Kecmanovic capitalised on his one and only break-point chance of the match to force a third set.
But the mistakes crept back into the underdog's game, shooting himself in the foot with a pair of double faults and more unforced errors than winners.
Fritz took full advantage, securing two breaks down the stretch to run away with the victory and his first title of 2023.
After winning just one of his first six finals on the ATP Tour, Fritz has now won the past four finals he has reached.
Fritz, the third seed, faced sixth seed and world number 15 Frances Tiafoe, and did not allow a single break of serve en route to the 96-minute victory.
He will now face compatriot Tommy Paul in an all-American semi-final after the world number 23 prevailed 6-2 6-2 against Mackenzie McDonald.
The win was Paul's 10th from his past 12 matches, with one of those two losses coming against Novak Djokovic.
Australia's Alex De Minaur is through to the other semi-final after making light work of Japan's Taro Daniel 6-2 6-2 in a surprisingly one-sided contest, considering Daniel was coming off a victory over world number four Casper Ruud.
De Minaur will face Holger Rune after the 19-year-old capitalised on Matteo Berrettini not being at 100 per cent, jumping out to a perfect 6-0 1-0 start before the Italian retired hurt.
Meanwhile, Chile Open second seed Francisco Cerundolo missed out on a potential chance to face his younger brother after going down 6-3 3-6 6-3 against Tomas Martin Etcheverry.
He was one win away from doing his part to set up a quarter-final showdown with Juan Manuel Cerundolo, but the 21-year-old Argentine also did not hold up his end of the bargain, falling 6-2 2-6 7-6 (7-2) to Serbia's Dusan Lajovic.
Laslo Djere ensured it would be a good day for the Serbians with a 7-5 7-5 handling of Italy's Riccardo Bonadio, and he will face third seed Sebastian Baez in the quarter-final after he eliminated hometown hero Cristian Garin 6-4 6-3.
Three years on from Fritz's breakthrough tour triumph against Sam Querrey – another compatriot – at the same event, the world number 24 was celebrating again in the last tournament before Wimbledon.
Paris-born opponent Cressy had defeated a trio of home hopefuls in succession in Britons Dan Evans, Cameron Norrie and Jack Draper to reach this stage, but Fritz had just too much.
While the Indian Wells Masters champion had not lost a break all week and maintained that record through the decider, he was taken all the way.
"I played about as well as I could possibly play today, and it still came down to the final couple of points," Fritz said afterwards. "It couldn't have been much closer."
That had not appeared likely after an opener in which Fritz's return game dominated 6ft 6in serve-and-volley specialist Cressy, who was broken immediately following a double-fault.
That was one of four in the first set – as many as in three against Draper – as Cressy won just half of his service points, broken again to love.
Yet neither player faced another break point, with a pair of tie-breaks required to settle the title.
The first went the way of Cressy, forcing a decider as a pair of powerful forehands finally broke down Fritz, but he required treatment between sets and had clearly tired by the closing stages.
The latest in a series of Fritz lobs proved beyond Cressy, not that the result should have come as any surprise – improving the champion's career record in deciding tie-breaks to an astonishing 20-3.
Garin, the third seed at the ATP 250 event played on clay, rushed past Hungarian Attila Balazs 6-3 6-0 in just 68 minutes in Argentina.
The Chilean incredibly lost just eight points on serve, while converting five of 16 break points in a dominant performance.
Garin will face Uruguayan sixth seed Pablo Cuevas, who survived a test to get past Italian Gianluca Mager 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (7-2) 6-1.
Pella, the second seed and last year's runner-up, fell to Frenchman Corentin Moutet after a gruelling contest.
Moutet beat Pella at the French Open last year and he repeated the feat courtesy of a 6-7 (4-7) 7-5 6-3 victory after just over three hours on court.
Slovakian Andrej Martin will face Moutet after overcoming Spanish qualifier Carlos Taberner 6-3 7-6 (9-7).
Top seed Garin is aiming to win an ATP Tour event on home soil for the first time in Santiago.
The 24-year-old was made to work by Peruvian qualifier Juan Pablo Varillas in the last eight on Friday, but he prevailed 6-4 6-4.
Garin was broken first in either set yet responded instantly on each occasion.
"I would love to be able to do something important in this tournament," the Chilean said. "It is special and I hope I can continue to win.
"I am playing better, in a semi-final and I am excited to do better, but I prefer to go step by step, game by game."
Daniel Elahi Galan is up next, while the highest remaining seed besides Garin is Argentina's Federico Delbonis, the number eight.
That is because Facundo Bagnis set up a meeting with his compatriot by defeating fourth seed Laslo Djere.
Bagnis, who had already claimed the scalp of fifth seed Frances Tiafoe, dropped the first set but recovered to advance 4-6 6-3 6-3 at the ATP 250 tournament.
Slotted into the primetime fixture, Santiago resident Garin did not let the locals down, securing a break in the first game of the match to set the tone.
The other Chilean hopeful in the field, Nicolas Jarry, kept up his terrific form to also book his place in the second round.
After making the semi-final of last week's Rio Open – where he took a set off world number two Carlos Alcaraz – Jarry beat Peru's Juan Pablo Varillas 7-6 (7-1) 6-4 for an 11th victory from his past 14 matches.
Fifth seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas was the highest ranked player in action, and he went down 7-5 4-6 7-5 against Brazil's Thiago Monteiro, while sixth seed Laslo Djere had a better outing in his 6-3 6-2 victory over Joao Sousa.
Tomas Martin Etcheverry will meet second seed Francisco Cerundolo in an all-Argentine second round matchup after advancing past Italy's Fabio Fognini 6-1 7-6 (7-1).
Meanwhile, in Acapulco at the Mexican Open it was the Berrettini brothers stealing the headlines on a day where top hopes Carlos Alcaraz and Cameron Norrie both withdrew due to injuries.
World number 24 Matteo Berrettini won the first seven games of his match against Alex Molcan before the Slovak decided to retire at 6-0 1-0, and his younger brother Jacopo Berrettini capitalised on his qualifier status with a 3-6 7-6 (7-3) 2-1 (retired) comeback against Oscar Otte.
Australian eighth seed Alex De Minaur was the top seed in action and he discarded of Mexico's own 17-year-old qualifier Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez 6-1 6-2, while rising 21-year-old American Brandon Nakashima overcame Germany's Daniel Altmaier 6-3 3-6 6-1.
The Chilean world number 22 triumphed over Colombian Galan 6-4 6-3 and will play 118th-ranked Facundo Bagnis in Sunday's decider in Santiago.
Garin sent down eight aces and was dominant on his first serve against Galan.
Santiago native Garin, 24, has never won an ATP Tour title on home soil, while no Chilean has won the event since Fernando Gonzalez in 2009.
"I'm so, so happy to be in the final," Garin said in his post-game on-court interview. "The first day that I arrived I wasn't playing well and it was my second tournament in months, so for me to be in the final is so special, and even more here in Chile."
Argentinian Bagnis defeated higher-ranked countryman Federico Delbonis 7-5 6-3 to secure his place in a maiden Tour final.
Fifth seed Garin – winner of the most recent edition in 2020 – exited a second consecutive tournament at the first-round stage after he was humbled by Federico Coria.
Coria had defeated the fifth seed, Dusan Lajovic, at last week's Argentina Open, too, but was particularly impressive on Tuesday.
A stunning 6-2 6-0 win was sealed in an hour and 16 minutes.
Coria fended off two break points midway through the first set and then won the remaining nine games in succession in a dominant victory.
Garin was the only seed to lose in Brazil, however, as Lorenzo Sonego was on the right side of a 6-2 6-0 scoreline against 2019 winner Laslo Djere.
Fabio Fognini also advanced in straight sets, while Spanish pair Albert Ramos-Vinolas and Fernando Verdasco similarly eased through.
At the Delray Beach Open, 2021 runner-up Sebastian Korda defeated Thanasi Kokkinakis in his first match since winning the Australian Open doubles title with Nick Kyrgios.
Former champion Sam Querrey came up short against Denis Istomin.
Garin rallied from a set down to stun top seed Schwartzman 2-6 6-4 6-0 following more than two hours on the clay in Cordoba on Sunday.
Schwartzman was eyeing his first ATP Tour title on home soil – the Argentinian reached the Argentina Open final in Buenos Aires last year.
The three-time Tour champion appeared on track to break through for a maiden crown in his homeland.
However, Chilean Garin had other ideas as he spoiled the party at the ATP 250 tournament.
Garin, who lost his first four matches of the season and then fell in the Australian Open second round, converted six break points and saved nine.
The only two remaining home hopes in Santiago went head-to-head on Thursday and it was world number 22 Garin who came out on top 6-2 6-2.
Garin, a four-time ATP Tour winner, was forced to retire from the tournament in the last eight last year but will look to reach the semi-finals for the first time when he takes on Peruvian qualifier Juan Pablo Varillas.
The 24-year-old Garin is one of only three seeds remaining in the competition after Varillas' upset win over Federico Coria in straight sets and Daniel Elahi Galan's defeat of Pablo Andujar.
Garin cannot now play another seeded player until the final.
Gasquet – three times a champion in Montpellier and once in Lyon – needed just 87 minutes to overcome Simon in his first-round match on Wednesday and set up a last-16 tie against Feliciano Lopez, who beat eighth seed Ugo Humbert.
The other first-round match saw Adrian Mannarino defeat Alexei Popyrin and progress to face top seed Gael Monfils.
Two last-16 matches also took place, with world number 23 Grigor Dimitrov, who entered as a wildcard and was seeded fourth, going down 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 7-5 to Gregoire Barrere.
Third seed Denis Shapovalov also suffered a quick exit as he lost to Vasek Pospisil 6-2 6-3.
Meanwhile, at the Pune Open, second seed Ricardas Berankis saved two set points as he rallied to defeat Cedrik-Marcel Stebe 7-6 (7-2) 6-1.
World number 73 Berankis will go up against Yuichi Sugita, who progressed without playing after Viktor Troicki withdrew due to fever, in the quarter-finals. Jiri Vesely and Ilya Ivashka also progressed.
Garin, the fourth seed, responded impressively to going a set down and then got to match point four times in their third-set tie-break, but he could not hold his nerve and Gaston got the job done 6-4 1-6 7-6 (13-11).
The Chilean was on the back foot right from the start Gaston broke him in the first game, and although Garin did hit back to make it 3-3, his opponent quickly had the advantage again and went on to seal the first set.
Garin's response was emphatic and clinical, dropping just three points on his serve and taking both of the break points that came his way to level the match.
The pair could not be separated in a back-and-forth third set, but Garin was the first to get match point at 6-5 in the tie-break – they would trade another six equally between them before Gaston finally prevailed at 13-11, leaving the 20-year-old satisfied.
"I am very happy to be in my first [ATP Tour] semi-final," Gaston said after.
"It was a great fight. It was a really long match. I always tried to play my game, and it is a good win for me. I hope I can continue like that."
Up next for Gaston will be Laslo Djere after he saw off Arthur Rinderknech 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 6-4, while Casper Ruud – the highest seed remaining – is also into the final four.
The Norwegian was victorious at the Swedish Open last week, his second title of the year, and dispatched Benoit Paire on Friday to reach another semi.
Ruud won 6-2 5-7 6-3 in just under two hours and will face Vit Kopriva, a qualifier, who secured his first semi-final appearance thanks to a stunning 6-1 6-0 win over Mikael Ymer.
At the Croatia Open in Umag, top seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas cruised into the last four with a straightforward 6-2 6-1 defeat of Stefano Travaglia, setting up a meeting with either Filip Krajinovic or Carlos Alcaraz.
The other semi will be contested between Richard Gasquet and Daniel Altmaier, who produced something of a shock by ousting second seed Dusan Lajovic 6-2 6-4.
The veteran Frenchman came through against Damir Dzumhur 6-3 7-6 (9-7), clinching the second set at the fourth opportunity.
Giron lost the first set in a tie-break, however, the American fought back in an encounter lasting nearly three hours on Tuesday.
Twenty minutes of match time came in the final game, which encompassed all of Giron's match points.
Munar successfully staved off the first nine and had seven break points of his own. Yet his resistance was finally broken as Giron prevailed at the ATP Tour tournament.
Next up for Giron is a meeting with Australian third seed Alex de Minaur.
Eighth seed John Millman enjoyed a more routine 6-2 6-4 victory over Mikael Ymer, while there were also victories for Laslo Djere, Dimitar Kuzmanov and Egor Gerasimov.
Experienced Belgian Goffin is a five-time tournament winner on the ATP Tour, and his Slovakian opponent is chasing his first title at this level.
However, their one past meeting went Molcan's way when they met in the Melbourne ATP 250 tournament in January, and although that match was on hardcourts and this final is on clay, Goffin respects his left-handed opponent's game.
Goffin made sure of his place in the title match with a 6-3 6-3 win over Argentinian Federico Coria, while Molcan, who beat Felix Auger-Aliassime earlier in the week, was a 6-1 7-5 victor against Serbian Laslo Djere.
Speaking of the threat posed by Molcan, Goffin said: "He's a great fighter, he's moving so well. He's lefty, so he's using his lefty game really well on clay, especially two days ago against Felix, he played well. So it's a tough opponent."
Goffin, quoted on the ATP Tour website, said he was pleased to get his clay season under way in fine style, even if he felt jittery at times against Coria.
"I managed to deal with my emotions at the end to finish the match, so I'm happy to play another final, especially here, the first tournament on clay," Goffin said. "I will give everything tomorrow."
Slovakian Molcan, in search of a first triumph at main tour level, came flying out of the blocks, but ultimately Belgian Goffin's experience showed as he recorded a 3-6 6-3 6-3 victory.
World number 65 Molcan, who defeated Goffin in the first week of the season in Melbourne, was in early control of this meeting in Marrakesh, a set to the good and serving at 2-1 up in the second.
However, former world number seven Goffin responded from that point onwards and did not look back as he won in one hour and 58 minutes.
Goffin feels he can take confidence from this success into the rest of the clay-court segment of the 2022 season.
"I'm very happy, proud of my week. It was not easy, a lot of tough matches," Goffin said. "But at the end, I have my sixth title, here in Marrakesh. It gives me a lot of happiness and confidence for the season on the clay.
"It was the case twice before that match that I lost the first set and I always stayed calm the whole week to turn it around. It was the case again today, because he was playing well.
"He was better than me in the first set, and then I managed to play better and better, serving better, being more aggressive in the middle of the second. I was the better player [after that]."
Quoted on the ATP website, Goffin said: "I was playing even better in the third set, so I'm really happy the way I finished with another break [and] a good match point. I didn't want to serve for the match, I preferred to finish with a break."
Molcan reflected on a positive week in Morocco that saw him most notably beat top seed Felix Auger-Aliassime.
"It was an amazing week for me," he said. "I won a lot of matches and enjoyed it very much."
The Belgian came from a set down to prevail 5-7 6-4 6-2, securing a fourth consecutive win over Bautista Agut.
It made him just the third non-Frenchman to lift the trophy in Montpellier, following in the footsteps of Tomas Berdych and Alexander Zverev.
The world number five sent down 13 aces and converted four of his seven break points en route to his fifth tournament win.
Alexei Popyrin claimed his maiden ATP Tour title with victory over Alexander Bublik in the final of the Singapore Tennis Open.
Popyrin, who stunned Marin Cilic in the last four, triumphed 4-6 6-0 6-2.
The Australian lost only six points on his serve, wrapping up the win in 84 minutes.
"It feels unbelievable," said Popyrin. "A lot of sacrifice, a lot of dedication and a lot of hard work went into this from myself, my team and my whole entire family.
"I have done it for everybody who was involved. I am just so proud that I could actually get it done."
