Top seeds all make semis in Qatar

DOHA, Qatar, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- Rafael Nadal led the top four seeds into the semifinals of the Qatar Exxon Mobil Open tennis tournament with a win Thursday.

Nadal, the top seed in Doha, defeated seventh-seeded Mikhail Youzhny. Youzhny had his chances against Nadal but was able to convert only one of six break-point chances while Nadal was good on half of his six break opportunities.

Nadal, 9-4 lifetime versus Youzhny, has won six of their last seven meetings.

Nadal's semifinal opponent will be fourth-seeded Frenchman Gael Monfils, who took out Viktor Troicki 6-2, 6-3. Monfils won two-thirds of the points on serve and more than half (32-30) off Troicki's serve.

Third-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga rolled over Albert Ramos 6-2, 6-1, losing 12 points over his seven service games.

Roger Federer, the defending champion and second seed, ran his overall winning streak to 20 matches and personal record against eighth-seeded Andreas Seppi to 8-0 with a 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 win. Federer lost his serve three times in the second set -- the only set he's ever lost to Seppi.

Federer is 8-3 against Tsonga. They played each other eight times last year, with Federer winning the last four times but Tsonga took a five-set decision from Federer at Wimbledon. Nadal has won eight of the nine times he's played Monfils.