Federer sets up semi showdown against Djokovic

Roger Federer of Switzerland hits a return during the men's singles quarterfinal match against Gael Monfils of France in the French Open tennis championship at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, capital of France, on May 31, 2011. Roger Federer won 3-0 to enter the semifinals. (Xinhua/Gao Jing)

PARIS, May 31 (Xinhua) -- The world No. 3 Roger Federer set up a semifinal clash with the world No. 2 Novak Djokovic at the French Open after defeating the ninth seeded Gael Monfils 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(3) on Tuesday.

The French top ace needed to fight for two days to see off Spanish seventh seed David Ferrer through a five-set battle while the Federer hadn't drop a set in four matches.

Federer, 29, overcame a slow start in which he trailed behind at 1-3 to level the first set at 3-3, then broke again in the 10th game to win the opener.

The Swiss played more comfortable in the second set and took control of the tiebreak in the third set although the gusty wind was quite annoying.

Djokovic enjoyed an easy pass to the semifinal thanks to Italian Fabio Fognini's walkaway on Monday due to a thigh injury.

24-year-old Djokovic would extend his winning streak to 44 matches if he could beat Federer and become world No.1.

The world No. 4 Andy Murray edged out Serbian Viktor Troicki to play Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela in the quarterfinals while Swede Robin Soderling will play the world No. 1 Rafael Nadal three years in a row at Roland Garros.

After losing the first two sets on Monday evening, the British top player fought back to level at 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 before the match was suspended due to darkness.

In the final set on Tuesday, 24-year-old Murray was broken first but battled back from 5-2 down to wrap the set up 7-5.