For a place in the semi-finals the second-seeded Federer will face French third seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who continued to mount a strong comeback from the knee injury that marred his 2010 campaign by edging Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 7-6(4), 7-6(9).
The 29-year-old Federer broke serve four times from 16 opportunities and won 80 per cent of points behind his first serve as he raced to victory in 65 minutes. “I feel great. I thought it was a great match for me,” said the Swiss. “Viktor was obviously coming off a fantastic win with Serbia in the Davis Cup, so I knew it was going to be difficult and that’s why I had that extra focus. I was able to play really well tonight and I’m very happy.
“I thought it was very concentrated performance. I really thought I saw the ball a bit better. From my side, I'm really happy the way I was able to keep Troicki on the back foot, make him feel like he didn't know what was coming his way.”
Federer improved to a 21-3 mark in Doha after advancing to the quarter-finals for the sixth time in six appearances. He won back-to-back titles in 2005 (d. Ljubicic) and 2006 (d. Monfils), but lost out in the semi-finals the past two years.
Federer takes a 2-1 career lead into the clash with Tsonga, whom he defeated most recently in last year’s Australian Open semi-finals.
“First of all, it's nice to see him back,” said Federer of his French opponent. “It's never nice to miss those guys because of injuries. I think it's exciting playing him again. I think he's a very explosive player with good character, good for the game. Looking forward to the match, it's going to be difficult. It seems like he's hitting the ball really well already early in the season. He seems really energised, and that's nice to see.”
Date: 06.01.2011, Source: ATP
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