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Federer rolls at Qatar

DOHA, Qatar, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- Defending champion Roger Federer Thursday reached the semifinals at the Qatar Open tennis tournament with a 6-4, 6-3, victory over Marcos Baghdatis.

The tournament's top seed improved to 3-0 lifetime against Baghdatis and will face Tommy Haas in Friday's semifinals. Federer, the reigning Wimbledon and U.S. Open champion, has not played since losing to David Nalbandian in five sets in the Tennis Masters Cup final at Shanghai in November -- a loss that ended his 24-match winning streak.

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Haas was a 6-4, 6-3, winner over Mikhail Youzhny in one of the other quarterfinals on Thursday.

Also in the winner's circle were Filippo Volandri and Gael Monfils. Volandri knocked off No. 2 seed Nikolay Davydenko, 6-3, 6-4, while Monfils beat Dmitry Tursunov, 6-2, 7-6 (7-4).

Monfils and Volandri face each other Friday in the other semifinal.

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