体坛英语新闻：Federer to face Djokovic in semi-final of Dubai open

DUBAI, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- Swiss tennis ace Roger Federer, the world's number eight, defeated here on Thursday Lukas Losol from the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-2 to set up a semi-final encounter with Novak Djokovic of the 22nd Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.

The former world's number one met little resistance from Losol who already showed at the start of the match immense difficulties in keeping Federer's powerful first services and forehand shots from the baseline.

Federer, who won the Dubai open five times in his career, will face Serbia's Djokovic on Friday, the current world number two. Djokovic won the Dubai open four times so far.

The 26-year-old Serbian reached the semi-final by walkover after Russian player Mikhail Youzhny felt sick ahead of the quarter final.

Thirty-two-year-old Federer, who owns a house in Dubai where he lives mostly during winter, has won 17 Grand Slam titles and occupied the world number one position for overall 302 weeks.