The Russian will face  defending champion and world No. 2 Novak Djokovic ,who beat Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis 6-7, 6-3, 6-4, on Saturday, eager to go one better after losing the 2007 final to Roger Federer.

Youzhny's greater consistency was decisive in the semifinal as his lower-ranked opponent made too many unforced errors to really trouble the world number 15.

At 4-5, a wide Youzhny forehand gave Melzer, 28, a chance to break and claim the opening set, but the left-hander clipped a forehand into the net after an 18-shot rally.  Melzer saved two break points at 5-5 but a third was beyond him as Youzhny, 27, delivered a measured lob winner and then served out the set.

The second set followed a similar pattern, with serve again dominating. Melzer missed an easy smash that would have given him two break points at 3-2.

Just 20 points were won against serve in the set. In the tiebreak, Melzer hit a backhand cross-court shot wide to give Youzhny a mini-break and ultimately the match as the Russian triumphed 7-4 in his fourth Dubai semifinal.

"Juergen played really well today," Youzhny told reporters.

"He was aggressive. He won a lot of good points. So for me it was really tough."

In Kuala Lumpur, Elena Dementieva cruised past Magdalena Rybarikova 6-0, 6-3 Friday to reach the semifinals of the Malaysian Open.

The match was delayed for 3 hours by rain at the Bukit Kiara Equestrian and Country Resort. Rybarikova held serve only once in the 62-minute match.

“It was tough on both of us to wait so long to begin the match, but I think it affected her more as she had a very slow start to the game,” Dementieva said. “I’m just thankful to have finished the match in two sets.”

Dementieva will play sixth-seeded Sybille Bammer, who rallied to defeat Chang Kai Chen 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 after a rain delay.

Alisa Kleybanova overcame Anastasia Rodionova 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 to reach the other semifinal.

Rodionova was involved in a running argument with the chair umpire and line judges, allowing her frustrations to affect her game.

Kleybanova will play unseeded Ayumi Morita, who defeated Chanelle Scheepers 6-3, 7-5.

The 19-year-old Ayumi, who reached her first WTA semifinal, will seek to avenge her loss to Kleybanova in their first meeting four months ago at the Tokyo Open.

Meantime, France captain Guy Forget has called up Richard Gasquet as a backup player to face Germany in the first round of the Davis Cup next week.

Gasquet joined Julien Benneteau, Michael Llodra, Gael Monfils and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on the team that will play Germany in Toulon on March 5-7, the French tennis federation said Thursday.

France, which has won the competition nine times, leads 5-2 in its head-to-head with Germany. France won their last meeting in a first-round match in 2006.

Gasquet missed the French Open and Wimbledon last year after being suspended following a doping test that showed traces of cocaine. He was cleared by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in December.

Gasquet has a 5-6 record in Davis Cup.