Federer Tested, But Wins to Claim Semi-Final Spot

In his toughest match of the year so far, top seed and world number one Roger Federer, needed to take things to a deciding 3rd set before confirming his place in the semi-final of the Doha event. Playing against Latvian Ernests Gulbis, Federer took an agonizing 1 hour 47 minutes to emerge the victor, even trailing 1-2 in the deciding 3rd set. However, the 15-time Grand Slam champion showed why he is considered the best tennis player, going on to win the set 6-4, and the match 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.

Federer, who has won this event in 2005 and 2006, showed great concentration and held his nerve in the final set, first holding his serve at 1-2 and then breaking Gulbis to get an all important 3-2 lead. He then never let Gulbis recover, taking the final set 6-4. In the semi-final, Federer will play Nikolay Davyedenko, the winner of last years Barclay's ATP Tour Finals. Davyedenko, the world number 6, is a formidable opponent who has shown that beating the top 3 tennis players is no difficult task for him. In the quarter-finals, Davyedenko defeated Ivo Karlovic, in a match that saw no break of serve at all. Both sets went to a tie-break with big serving Karlovic getting not even a single break point chance against Davyedenko. In the tie-break, Davyedenko, a good server himself, managed to eke out the 6 foot 10 inch Croatian, winning 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (9-7). With this victory, Davyedenko showed that he can keep his cool in pressure situations and that is something that will come in handy against the Swiss star. Friday's semi-final promises to be a cracker of a match, and it will be interesting to see who makes it to the finals from this half of the draw.

In the other half of the draw, world number 2 Rafael Nadal had an easy time of things when he came through with his match ending early after his opponent retired. Playing against Belgian Steve Darcis, Nadal quickly won the first set 6-1, and was leading 2-0 in the second when Darcis retired citing a back injury. Nadal will now play Victor Troicki in his semi-final, and this will prove to be an interesting match up as well. Troicki, seeded fifth at the Qatar Open, defeated Pole Lukasz Kubot in three sets to advance to the semi-final. From this half of the draw, Nadal looks almost certain to reach the finals, setting up an interesting final in Doha, irrespective of who makes it through from the other half.

Though a Federer-Nadal final is looking more likely, both Davyedenko and Troicki cannot be counted off, as both possess the firepower and the game to defeat the top 2 seeds. However, tennis fans all over the world will be hoping that the world number 1 and the world number 2 make it to the finals, thus giving them a preview of what to expect in the Australian Open later this month. But with the level of tennis being what it has been in the last few months, anything can happen, so all we can say is 'it's not over till it's over'.

The semi-finals of the Qatar Open will be played on Friday, at the Khalifa Tennis Complex in Doha, Qatar. Stay tuned...