World number one Roger Federer set up a semi-final against Germany's Tommy Haas after showing Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis the exit with a 6-4, 6-3 win at the Qatar Open on Thursday.
Haas had earlier defeated Russia's Mikhail Youzhny with an identical 6-4, 6-3 score.
The Swiss top seed has won his first tournament of the year in three of the past four years (Sydney 2002, Australian Open 2004 and Doha 2005) and looks set to improve on that record in the Middle East.
After being stretched by Frenchman Fabrice Santoro in a 7-6, 7-6 win on Wednesday, Federer was relieved to have an easier outing against Baghdatis.
He broke the Cypriot for a 5-4 lead and after wasting three set points in the next game, he clinched the opening set on his fourth attempt.
Baghdatis dropped his serve again in the eighth game of the second and that was enough for Federer to book his place in the last four.
Haas left Youzhny bewildered by racing into a 5-1 lead in the second set and although the Russian managed to close the gap by winning two successive games, the German stood firm to wrap up the win.
Seventh-seeded Frenchman Gael Monfils will meet Russia's Dmitry Tursunov and second seed Nikolay Davydenko will take on Italy's Filippo Volandri in the other quarter-finals later on Thursday.
