( CNN ) -- World No . 1 Novak Djokovic fought off fellow Serbian Janko Tipsarevic Thursday to earn a semifinal match in Dubai against third seed Andy Murray . It will be a repeat of their epic last-four clash at the Australian Open in January , when Djokovic prevailed in five sets on his way to his fifth grand slam crown . Both he and Murray are playing their first tournament since their Melbourne exertions but both have shown little signs of ring rust . Three-time defending Dubai champion Djokovic saved a set point in the second-set tiebreaker before beating Tipsarevic 6-1 7-6 , while Murray saw off the fifth seed Tomas Berdych 6-3 7-5 . Victory for Djokovic was revenge for a defeat to his Davis Cup teammate at the ATP World Tour Finals in London last November and he acknowledged that he was fortunate the match had not gone to a deciding set . `` He was very close to take that second set , '' the top seed told the official ATP website . `` Then who knows what could have happened . We both got a little bit nervous towards the end , I guess , and it was just luck to prevail . '' Murray claimed his first win over Berdych in seven years and made the perfect start to break the Czech in the second game of the opener to take a one-set lead . The Scot twice broke in the second set , only for the big-hitting Berdych to retrieve them . But a further break in the 11th game proved decisive and he eventually claimed victory in one hour and 51 minutes . `` I had a great match with him in Australia , and hopefully can reverse the result tomorrow , '' Murray said of Friday 's clash with Djokovic . Meanwhile , second seed Roger Federer continued his quest for a fifth Dubai title and improved to 12-0 against Mikhail Youzhny with a 6-3 6-4 win over the Russia to reach the last four . He will battle Juan Martin del Potro for a place in the final after the Argentine got past fourth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-6 6-2 . It was eighth seed del Potro 's second win over the Frenchman in a week , beating him in Marseille on the way to the title . But he lost to Federer in this year 's Rotterdam final and has a 2-9 record against the Swiss maestro .
Three-time defending champion Novak Djokovic reaches Dubai semifinals . He beat fellow Serb Janko Tipsarevic to revenge ATP World Tour Finals defeat . Djokovic to face Andy Murray in repeat of their Australian Open epic . Four-time champion Roger Federer also through to last four .