Federer and Djokovic set up Paris showdown

Paris: Roger Federer set up a Paris Masters semi-final showdown with Novak Djokovic by edging Juan Martin del Potro 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 in Friday`s quarter-finals.

Djokovic had earlier seen off Stanislas Wawrinka 6-1, 6-4. The Swiss fifth seed had lost for the third straight time to the towering Argentine in the final of the Basel tournament on Sunday, on what was home turf for him. But with Del Potro looking decidedly leg weary from his marathon efforts in recent weeks that have seen him win 15 out of his last 16 matches, Federer was in commanding form from the start. He broke serve to lead 3-1 and had little difficulty pocketing the first set from there in just 30 minutes, leaving his opponent stranded on the baseline with a succession of deft drop shots. Del Potro tried hard to make a fist of it at the start of the second set, at one point leaping over the net onto his opponent`s side after failing to chase down another Federer drop shot. The end looked in sight for the South American, but he fought off a series of break points and then summoned up a huge effort in the 10th game to finally take Federer`s serve, levelling the set scores in the process. Del Potro held firm till he was broken to love in the fifth game of the decider, but once again he got off the floor immediately to level at 3-3. Federer made it three straight breaks of serve in the next game, however, and the 32-year-old powered on to take another step towards what would be a 22nd career Masters title, and only his second in Paris after that of 2011.