World number three Novak Djokovic reached his first final of the season when he beat third-seeded Frenchman Gilles Simon 3-6, 7-5, 7-5 at the Dubai Championships on Friday. The Serb will face fourth seed David Ferrer after the Spaniard overwhelmed Frenchman Richard Gasquet 6-2, 6-2. In contrast to Djokovic's two hours 44-minute struggle, Ferrer dominated the match from the beginning to tie up victory in just 75 minutes. “I fought my way through in the match, really believed till the end and mentally this is a very important win for me,” top seed Djokovic told reporters. “If I want to stay on top of the men's game, I have to win these matches because Simon is certainly one of the best players in the world. “He plays a very unique game. He's very solid from all sides, and playing with a very small number of unforced errors, which... when you see him, you don't think that physically he's that strong and he has great endurance.” Both Djokovic and Simon struggled to produce their best tennis in the afternoon heat. Djokovic was especially wayward during the first set and struggled to find any consistency. Simon, though, was under early pressure as he fought off two break points at 1-1 before breaking to lead 4-2 when Djokovic made a forehand error. Both players had their chances to break in the second set before Djokovic broke in the final game with a forehand winner. Djokovic bounced back from trailing 0-2 in the decider to level at 3-3 when Simon produced a backhand error. The Serb kept up the pressure and broke for the match after Simon set up match point by netting a low forehand volley. The Serbian sealed victory with an emphatic smash. Ferrer produced an almost flawless performance which gave Gasquet little chance to get into the match. “This was my best match in the season,” said Ferrer. “In the second set I had a lot of break points down but I fought a lot and was very focused to beat him.” Baghdatis in quarters Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis ousted Israel's Dudi Sela 7-6, 6-3 to enter the quarterfinals of the Delray Beach International on Thursday. Baghdatis will now face Jeremy Chardy of France, a winner over Kazakhstan's Audrey Golubev 7-6 (5) 7-5. Acasuso downs Robredo Jose Acasuso broke Tommy Robredo at the end of both sets to win their fourth clash in four weeks 7-5, 6-2 in the Mexican Open quarterfinals on Thursday. They finished their rivalry through the Latin American clay court season at 2-2, although Robredo still leads 5-4 overall. The Argentine will face second-seeded Gael Monfils of France in the semifinals. Monfils benefitted from the retirement of Argentine Leonardo Mayer when leading 6-3, 6-7 (4), 4-1. Meanwhile, top-seeded Venus Williams and defending champion Flavia Pennetta remained on course to meet in the women's final. Nicolas Almagro continued his men's title defense with a 6-2, 7-6 (2), win over Spanish compatriot Daniel Gimeno-Traver and will meet Martin Vassallo Arguello of Argentina for a place in Saturday's final. Vassallo Arguello beat qualifier Dan Koellerer of Austria 6-3, 7-6 (6) for his first semifinals in two years. In the women's draw, Williams overcame a mid-match stumble to put away Hungarian qualifier Agnes Szavay 6-2, 5-7, 6-1. She will play unseeded Barbora Zahlavova Strycova. The Czech defeated Maret Ani of Estonia 4-6, 7-5, 6-1. Pennetta overcame Petra Cetkovska of the Czech Republic 2-6, 6-3, 6-0. She set up a rematch of the 2004 final with fourth-seeded Czech Iveta Benesova who beat Mathilde Johansson of France 6-1, 6
