DUBAI, Feb. 28 -- Swiss tennis ace Roger Federer, the world's No. 8 in the ATP ranking, defeated the title defender Novak Djokovic of Serbia in a tough battle of three sets to reach the Dubai Open ATP final on Friday.

The Swiss rallied to beat the world No. 2 Serbian in 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Federer said: "I really enjoyed the match, I had a tough start in the first set, but the crowds pushed me and that gave me real boost."

At the beginning of the second set, the match had to be delayed for some time when rain came up for about ten minutes.

The Serbian tennis champion Djokovic reached the semifinal from a walkover of Russian player Mikhail Youzhny, who felt sick ahead of the quarterfinal on Thursday.

Federer, who won the Dubai Open five times in his career, will encounter on Saturday Czech player Tomas Berdych in the final.

Federer added: "tactically, I always try to play aggressive, I have never been the defensive player, Berdych is a great player with an unbelievable hard forehand and backhand hand so I must come with something different to beat him in the final on Saturday."

With 17 Grand Slam titles and overall 302 weeks he held No. 1 in the world ranking, Federer is considered one of the greatest tennis players of all times.

Djokovic who hired Germany's tennis legend Boris Becker as his new coach in order to improve his mental toughness, as he said, won the Dubai Open four times so far, including last year when he defeated Berdych in the final.