Andy Murray all ready for Novak Djokovic semi-final in Dubai

Murray won his quarter-final by overcoming fifth-seed Tomas Berdych 6-3, 7-5 – the first time the Scot has beaten the world No 7 since 2005, having lost their past three meetings. In the later session, Djokovic was confirmed as Murray’s semi-final opponent when he beat fellow Serb Janko Tipsarevic 6-1, 7-6 (8-6).

The Scot is looking forward to the test and the chance to atone for the disappointment of his five-set loss in Melbourne.

“It should obviously be a great challenge. Any time you play against the top players, that’s the case,” said Murray, prior to Djokovic’s match against Tipsarevic. “I would like to get a chance to play him again. You know, before the Indian Wells-Miami stretch it would be good to see exactly what I need to work on, where my game is. I had a great match with him in Australia, and, hopefully, can reverse the result tomorrow.”

Murray broke early to take control of the first set against Berdych. In the second, the players twice traded breaks of serve. Murray broke to go up 6-5 but squandered six match points before clinching it when Czech Berdych hit long.

“That’s one thing I’ve always been very comfortable with, closing matches out,” Murray said. “I played three great serves to bring it to 40-Love and then missed a few first serves in a row and he went for some big shots. Then, once you’re back at deuce, you’re thinking, God, I’ve just blown three match points. So you kind of just want to try and get through it if you can.”

Berdych had a chance to break to take the second set to a tiebreaker. Murray delivered a serve that was initially called out but overturned on review. Umpire Mohammed Lahyani gave the point to Murray, leaving Berdych angry because he felt the point should have been replayed. Lahyani argued that Berdych had already netted his return when the call came.

“When the point ends up like this, this is something you don’t expect,” Berdych said. “You try to focus on the game and go point by point, and something like that came and you know you are right. What can you do?”

Later, world No 1 Djokovic, going for his fourth Dubai title in a row, broke the seventh-seeded Tipsarevic twice and closed out the first set when his opponent returned long.

Tipsarevic came to life in the second set, holding his serve throughout and taking a 4-1 lead in the tiebreaker. But Tipsarevic missed a set point at 6-5 when he double-faulted, and Djokovic won the next two points.

“It’s always difficult I guess for both of us. We know each other really well,” Djokovic said. “We both got a little bit nervous toward the end, I guess, and it was just luck to prevail.”

Tipsarevic admitted nerves got the better of him in the second-set tiebreaker, but not because he was facing a friend.

“Obviously it’s like little butterflies in the stomach having the set point on 6-5 in the tiebreak after a one hour set,” Tipsarevic said.

“It’s not only against Novak. It would have happened against anyone. Normally you’re trying your best on this point. It’s just that I tried too much for no reason.”

Swiss Roger Federer will face Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina in the other semi-final. Federer had another routine encounter, beating Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny 6-3, 6-4. Del Potro beat Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga for the second time in two weeks, 7-6 (7-1), 6-2.

Federer, who is looking for his fifth Dubai title, made easy work of Youzhny, beating him for the 12th time in a row. With his serve working well, the second-seeded Federer again won without losing a set.

“I thought, again, on my serve I was doing many of the right things,” said Federer, who had five aces and won 80 per cent of the points on his second serve.

“It’s quick out there, so you got to be really focused,” he said. “He was obviously taking a lot of chances for one set and a half. Maybe his energy wasn’t quite up. You know, at the end he really got pumped up a bit, but it was almost too late for him.”