Federer completes easy win

The Swiss player was broken for the first time this week in the opening game of the match, but broke back immediately.

He never looked back as his court coverage and precision proved too much for his Ukrainian opponent, who came into the match ranked at 43 in the world and without a win against a player in the top 10.

"I thought it was a tough match, tougher than the last couple, just because the start of the match, obviously that was tricky, the first sort of three, four games, where it could be 3-Love for him, could be 2-1 for me, could be 3-1, 2-All, or whatever," said Federer.

"It was so important to stay with him there, and then sort of finding the rhythm, how to play him, how is he playing, how is he serving, is he coming in, is he staying back, what's his strengths, what are his weaknesses?

"So it was just a matter of trying to figure him out, and I thought actually I played a really good match for the remainder of the game. You know, at the end, I'm obviously happy. It's been maybe a routine score, but, you know, I had to work for it tonight."

It was the first time the pair had met on tour and while Stakhovsky never lacked courage, it was Federer's ability to play the big points better that was the main difference between the men.

A crunching forehand winner helped Federer convert one of the two break points he earned in the eighth game of the match before he held serve in the ninth to see out the set with some ease.

Federer broke in the third game of the second set as a typical mixture of thoughtful hitting from the tournament's top seed and Stakhovsky's wayward shot selection was to prove telling.

Federer threw down six aces in the match. He was forced to stave off several break points in the second set, but while he saved eight out of nine break points in the match, Stakhovsky could only manage to save six of the nine he faced in dropping serve three times.

Federer has a place in Dubai and clearly enjoys this tournament. He won the Dubai Championships in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2007, and would seem to be in fine fettle after returning to action after the Australian Open in January.

This was his 756th career victory. He moves above Ilie Nastase on the ATP all-time win list and is only six behind seventh-placed Pete Sampras's total of 762 wins.

Jimmy Connors remains in first place with an incredible 1,241 wins from the American's elongated professional career.

Federer will face Richard Gasquet in the last four on Friday after he won an all-French clash with Gilles Simon 5-7 6-2 6-4.

A match against Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic in Saturday's final is looking increasingly likely after the Serb eased into the semis, where he faces Tomas Berdych.