Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal into semis of Qatar Open

DEFENDING champion Roger Federer won his 20th straight match by beating Andreas Seppi 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 in the quarter-finals of the Qatar Open to set up a last-four clash with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

Federer, who had dropped just nine games in his opening two matches in Doha, struggled at times against the towering Italian and will have to improve to beat Frenchman Tsonga. “I’m looking forward to playing him,” said Federer later. “I hope we can live up to expectations.”

The Swiss raced into a 3-0 lead in just six minutes in the first set and appeared on the way to an easy victory. But he fell apart in the second set, going down 5-1 after a string of unforced errors. Federer came back to tie the set 5-5 but Seppi took the last two games to level the match.

In the third set Federer broke the Italian to go up 2-1. He saved two break points to take control at 5-3 and closed out the match with a blistering forehand winner into the corner.

Tsonga reached the semi-finals for the second year in a row by brushing aside unseeded Albert Ramos of Spain 6-2, 6-1.

Top seed Rafael Nadal also made it through to the last four, beating Russian Mikhail Youzhny 6-4 6-4. The Spaniard will play Gael Monfils for a place in the final after the Frenchman beat Serbian fifth seed Viktor Troicki 6-2, 6-3.