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Davydenko to face Federer in French Open semis

Davydenko set-up a French Open semi-final showdown against Federer by beating the man who inflicted humiliating back-to-back defeats on the world number one earlier this year.

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PARIS: Nikolay Davydenko set-up a French Open semi-final showdown against Roger Federer by beating the man who inflicted humiliating back-to-back defeats on the world number one earlier this year.

Russian fourth seed Davydenko saw off the gritty challenge of Guillermo Canas, the 19th seed, 7-5, 6-4, 6-4 to end the Argentinian's hopes of crowning his comeback from a 15-month drug ban by reaching the Roland Garros final.

"I was surprised we played such a long first set," said Davydenko.

"I thought we might not finish it until tomorrow but I prayed that I could win in thee sets."

The result was also an unexpected bonus for Federer as Canas had beaten him at Indian Wells and Miami on the American hard court swing in March as the 29-year-old Argentinian continued his return to respectability having seen his ranking slump to 514 during is enforced absence.

Equally comforting for the top seed is the knowledge that he has beaten Davydenko in all of their eight career meetings including their only clash in clay in Hamburg in 2005.

Davydenko will be playing in his second Roland Garros semi-final having lost to Argentina's Mariano Puerta in 2005.

Today, he and Canas slugged out a 70-minute first set which took the heart out of the Argentinian as Davydenko was rewarded for his aggressively positive approach.

He ended the quarter-final having hit a huge 64 unforced errors but an equally telling 62 winners.

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