Federer express races into semifinals

Federer waves to the crowd after victory over Youzhny sends him through to semis in Dubai [AFP]

Roger Federer advanced to the semifinals of the Dubai Tennis Championships on Thursday, beating Mikhail Youzhny 6-3, 6-4 to extend his winning streak over the Russian to 12-0.

The second-seeded Swiss served solidly and was in good form at the net. He broke to go up 3-2 and won the opening set when Youzhny failed to return his serve.

The second set was much the same, Federer was never behind after breaking to lead 1-0. He clinched the match with a kick serve that Youzhny returned into the net.

Federer, looking for his fifth title in Dubai, will play Juan Martin del Potro who convincingly beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-6, 6-2 in the semifinals.

Andy Murray came through a tricky encounter with Tomas Berdych to also make the semis. Murray had only beaten the fifth-seeded Czech once in four previous meetings but rallied to a 6-3, 7-5 win.

The Brit will play top-seeded Novak Djokovic in a rematch of their Australian Open semifinal after the Serbian defeated Janko Tipsarevic 6-1, 7-6.

Djokovic looked to be in cruise control but had to fightback from 3-0 down in the second set tie-breaker. 

“It was a very tense,” Djokovic said in a court-side interview.

“Towards the end, we both had chances and both got quite nervous and made some unforced errors.

“We’ve known each other for a very long time and there are no secrets. We’re very good friends, but we’re both professionals.”  

World number five Agnieszka Radwanska won two matches on Thursday to advance to the quarter-finals of a rain-interrupted BMW Malaysian Open.

The Pole beat Akgul Amanmuradova, who she was originally scheduled to play on Tuesday, 6-2, 6-4 in her first match of the day before easing by Karolina Pliskova, 6-4, 6-4.

While results went Radwanska’s way, it was the end of the road for fourth seed Jarmila Gajdosova and seventh seed Jelena Dokic.

Radwanska was in cruise control against Pliskova of the Czech Republic in the second round but admitted it was hard waiting just to finish off her first round match.

“Playing two matches (in one day) is bad, especially under these conditions. The weather really hasn’t been helping the progress of the tournament,” Radwanska said.

Radwanska came to Kuala Lumpur after winning in Dubai on Saturday, a victory which saw her reach a career high on the WTA rankings.