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DOHA (AFP) – Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer each moved to within two wins of their first re-match since the sensational Wimbledon final six months ago, both hastening into the quarter-finals of the Qatar Open here on Wednesday.

Spanish Rafael Nadal serves to Slovakia's Karol Bec in Doha during the Qatar Tennis Open 2009

Nadal, the top-seeded Wimbledon, French Open and Olympic champion, took only 61 minutes to win 6-1, 6-2 against Karol Beck, the former top 40 Slovakian, and looked as energetically aggressive as ever except for a brief few moments at the start of the second set.

Federer, whose total of 13 Grand Slam titles puts him just one from the all-time record, needed only a little longer, taking 79 minutes in an effective but not always fluent 6-3, 6-3 victory against Andreas Seppi, the world number 34 from Italy.

Nadal's looked marginally the more impressive effort, but Federer was required to play in steadily cooling night-time conditions in unusually low temperatures for this region.

Asked if he felt different about coming into a new season for the first time as world number one and with three big titles to his name, Nadal replied wisely.

"Everybody starts the year with zero," he said.

"But at the same time I have won five Grand Slams, and, I think, 11 Masters Series, and 31 titles altogether and one Olympic gold medal.

"I have all these titles and all these good results over a few years, and that has made me calmer."

Nadal was more upbeat about his performance against Beck, who is trying to fight his way back on to the main tour after dropping out of the top 100.

"It's good if you are winning by this score against a tough opponent: I am pleased that I am playing well and pleased to be in the quarter-finals," Nadal enthused.

"It's warmer today (Wednesday), which is better for the body and better for the tennis and better for everyone."

Talking about his narrow loss to Andy Murray in Sunday's exhibition final in Abu Dhabi, Nadal said that it had helped him.

"Abu Dhabi helped me. I lost a close match as in some moments I lost concentration because I had been outside competition for some time.

"You need more matches to get back into competition but at the same time that match helped me get back into the rhythm and to get good feelings."

Federer might have won a little more quickly had he consolidated his break for 4-2 in the first set, but then missed two points for 5-2 and allowed Seppi to break back.

He also saw his opponent reach break back point for 4-4 in the second set before holding on to that service game; Seppi then tenaciously saved three match points before Federer was able wrap it up at the fourth attempt.

"I hit five times as many balls in this match as in the last one, which is good for me at this stage," said Federer.

"I'm satisfied with my level at the moment.

"To a degree I know where my game is but as the tournament progresses you get tougher opponents and you tend only to play as well as your opponent."

Nadal now faces Gael Monfils, the brilliantly speedy Frenchman who looks capable of pushing into the top ten this year, while Federer must meet Philipp Kohlschreiber, the Switzerland-based top 30 German who had the best year of his career last year.

If both superstars survive, Federer could well have the tougher semi-final, for he should play Murray, who achieved early breaks in both sets against Philipp Petzschner to dominate the match in a 6-2, 6-4 win.

"I go into each match now maybe a bit more focused (than I used to), and when I get on top I'm able to stay on top of opponents for longer without really giving them a chance to get back into it," said Murray.

"Those things come with experience of playing at this level, and it's taken me a few years but I think I'm starting to get better at that."

Federer seemed very well aware that he might experience a tougher draw than Nadal.

"Definitely Murray has caught up, and now it's a matter of him keeping it up and staying healthy," he said generously.

ABU DHABI, (AFP) – Former world number one Roger Federer produced some magical moments, but that wasn't enough to prevent a fourth loss in his last five matches to the fast-improving Andy Murray here on Friday.

AFP – Andy Murray returns to Swiss Roger Federer during their match on day two of the three-day Capitala World

In the semi-finals of the Capitala World Tennis Championship, an exhibition shootout being played at the Zayed Sports City tennis stadium, Scotsman Murray prevailed in three sets 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (8-6).

The world number four next takes on the top-ranked player in the world, Rafael Nadal in the final after the Spaniard's explosive powerplay proved to hot for Russian world number five Nikolay Davydenko to handle. Nadal won 6-2, 6-3.

The winner of the Nadal-Murray final takes home the entire purse of $250,000 in the shootout tournament.

Murray, who seemed in pain and clutched his back after the second set, said:

"It's always a challenge playing Roger. I've got the better of him on a few occasions, but in the big one we played, at the US Open final, he beat me pretty badly. Hopefully, I'll get him in a Grand Slam one day.

"It will be nice to become the number one player in the world, but my aim for 2009 is to win a Grand Slam event, and I feel the Australian Open is my best chance. So, this is a really nice preparation for that."

Nadal also revealed his ambitions for 2009, saying: "The aim really is to be a better player than I was last year and to keep improving. Obviously, I like the position I am in right now and would like to keep it this way as long as possible."

On his match against Davydenko, the Spaniard added: "I have been working hard on my game lately even though I haven't been playing competitive tennis for the past two months or so. I was delighted with the way I played today and am looking forward to the rest of the season."

Federer began well, racing to 3-0 in the first set. Murray broke back in the fifth game when the Swiss maestro twice failed to pull of easy drop shots on the net. A double fault by Murray on break point in the 10th game sealed the set for the 13-time Grand Slam champion.

Federer struggled at the net and with his forehand shots in the second set, which was easily won by Murray, who then raced to a 4-1 lead in the third.

It was then that Federer turned on his magic. Suddenly, it looked like he could do no wrong. Some lethal serves and blistering returns saw him win the next four games in nine minutes.

However, Murray held on to his serve in the 10th game and pushed the set into a tie-breaker, where several Federer unforced errors gave him three match points at 6-3.

The Swiss star saved all three match points, but two more unforced errors ensured the result in favour of the Scot.

Federer, who won the US Open last year, said: "It was quite a good start to the year, but I just could not pull through. Andy has been playing some very good tennis and he carried his form from the end of last year."

In the other semi-final, Davydenko started in brilliant fashion by breaking Nadal in the first game without giving him any point.

But Nadal regrouped within no time and completely dominated the Russian to take the first set 6-2.

In the second set, Davydenko broke Nadal in the first game again, but the reigning French and Wimbledon champion broke right back. Another break in the sixth game and it was all over for Davydenko.