Dubai (dpa) – Novak Djokovic battled his emotions as the top seed outlasted good friend and Davis Cup teammate Janko Tipsarevic 6-1, 7-6 (8-6) to join second seed Roger Federer and number three Andy Murray into the last four of the Dubai Championships on Thursday. Fourth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France failed to make it a matched set of the tennis elite as the Frenchman went down to Argentine Juan Del Potro 7-6 (7-1), 6-2. “It was very tense, especially late in the second set,” said Djokovic, champion at the last three Dubai editions and hoping to join Federer on four trophies in the emirate. “Janko had chances, but both of us were committing unforced errors and double-faults. “I stayed composed when I had to, it's so tough to play a good friend. We know each other's games from a million practices, there are no secrets.” Federer turned in another dominating performance to post his twelfth win without a loss against Mikhail Youzhny, winning 6-3, 6-4. He crushed semi-final opponent Del Potro a fortnight ago to win the Rotterdam title. Murray, seeded third, reached his first career semi at the event, defeating Tomas Berdych 6-3, 7-5 after missing on an agonizing six match points. Murray will play Djokovic in a repeat of an epic Australian Open match won by the Serb. “It will be challenging for both of us. Andy and I grew up together. We go back a long time,” he said. Swiss ace Federer has not faced a break point in his last two matches and demonstrated his total command of the situation against Youzhny by going through in 69 minutes. “It was difficult to play and get any rhythm, really, because he has potential to hit through the court on the forehand and the backhand and his serve a flat, and the results show it,” said Federer “I was doing many of the right things on my serve. It's quick out there, so you've got to be really focused. “He was obviously taking a lot chances for one set and a half. Maybe his energy wasn't quite up. At the end he really got pumped up, but it was almost too late for him.” Murray closed out the his win on the seventh time of asking as his Czech Berdych finally drove a backhand long to end the struggle. It was Murray's first win over Berdych since 2005 after losing their last three; he ended with seven aces and four breaks of serve. The Scot was troubled by a long-term knee niggle which he says he can play through. “I've had a problem with it since Brisbane (January) actually, it's sort of come and gone. It was a bit sore right before the tournament. “I didn't feel it at all in the first couple of matches, and then right at the beginning of the second set I felt it. It's not something that stops me running around. It's just annoying because it's sort of been there for a while.” BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/C3ftn Tags: Djokovic, Dubai, Tennis, Tipsarevic Section: Sport, United Arab Emirates
