Novak Djokovic And Roger Federer To Meet In Semis

Roger Federer will meet Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells after comfortable quarter-final wins for both players.

World number three Novak Djokovic booked his place in the last four by defeating 18th seed Richard Gasquet of France 6-2 6-4.

Third seed Djokovic has yet to drop a set in Indian Wells and extended his perfect record this season to 16-0.

Second seed Federer defeated fellow Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka 6-3 6-4.

Top seed Rafael Nadal plays Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro in the other semi-final on Saturday.

"I expected a difficult match against Stan, we know each other so well so there is no secrets really," said Federer, who later teamed up with Wawrinka to beat Nadal and Marc Lopez 7-5 6-3 in the men's doubles semi-finals.

"We are playing good doubles here and to knock him out in the singles is not a lot of fun, but I did what I had to do."

Djokovic will move up to second place in the rankings if he defeats Federer in their meeting, but the Swiss claimed that he was not concerned about the prospect of being overtaken by his semi-final opponent.

"I think every match we play is always important," added Federer. "I just want to go out there and do well. I have not done well the last two times I have played against him but hopefully I can turn the tide."

Australian Open champion Djokovic survived service breaks early in each set to claim victory in one hour 35 minutes.

"It's been the best period of my tennis career definitely the last three months, winning a grand slam, the Davis Cup and playing really well here on the court at Indian Wells," said Djokovic.

"I want to maintain this level of performance by winning in the semi-final."

Gasquet admitted that he had been unable to cope with certain aspects of Djokovic's play.

"He returns incredible, that's for sure," said the 24-year-old Frenchman. "So to make some [service] points for myself is really difficult. That's why he broke me a lot of times.

"That's a big weapon for me, the serve, and I couldn't [win] points with it. For me, Djokovic has the best return. Compared to Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer, he has the best return."