Dubai, March 2:

Mikhail Youzhny, one of the three hottest players on the ATP Tour at the moment, continued his career-best start to a season by Friday reaching back-to-back finals.

The 24-year-old Russian won the Rotterdam title last week, overcame French Open champion Rafael Nadal on Thursday and reached the final of the Dubai Open on Friday, brimming full of confidence during a 7-5, 6-2 win over Robin Soderling.

It gave Youzhny a 18-4 win-loss record so far in 2007 and his continued excellent form was the more remarkable given that he finished at close to midnight the night before against Nadal and was obliged to return to court within 14 hours.

Youzhny’s probable opponent will be Roger Federer of Switzerland, the top-seeded world number one, who is scheduled to play fifth-seeded German Tommy Haas in the other semi-final.

Qatar Open

DOHA: Top seed Justine Henin survived a late scare against Swiss fifth seed Patty Schnyder to win 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 and set up a Qatar Open semi-final clash with Serbian Jelena Jankovic. Jankovic defeated Ukrainian Kateryna Bondarenko 6-3, 6-3 to join Daniel Hantuchova and Svetlana Kuznetsova in the semis after their respective wins over Martina Hingis and Francesca Schiavone of Italy.