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Federer sets up Davydenko semi

Roger Federer is through to the semi-finals of the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament after beating Jarkko Nieminen on Friday night.

The top seed, ranked third in the world, was made to work for his victory, pushed all the way by the Finn.

However, in the end, Federer, who did not face a single break point on his own serve, won 7-5 7-6 (2).

“We both did really well on our on service games, which made it difficult on the return,” assessed Federer. “But I played a good breaker.

“It was good to have a tough match today because I got a walkover in the second round.

“I have to give Jarrko credit too. He played aggressive on both the forehand and backhand.”

He will face Nikolay Davydenko in Saturday’s semi-finals as the Russian was a 7-5 603 winner over Richard Gasquet.

The day’s other semi-final will be between Tomas Berdych and Juan Martin del Porto.

Second seed Berdych blasted past Andreas Seppi of Italy 6-3 6-4 while del Porto defeated Viktor Troicki 6-1 6-1.

Speaking about his upcoming match against Berdych, del Porto told the ATP website: “He’s been playing really well the past two years and has confidence.

“He’s very dangerous on this surface with his forehand. His serve is very strong.

“But I’m just going to be focused on my game, on my serve and forehand. And try to take the chances when I can.”