DOHA, Jan 9: Rafael Nadal made a miserable start to the first season he has ever begun as world number one, losing in the Qatar Open quarter-finals to Gael Monfils in less than an hour and a half on Thursday.

But although the Wimbledon, French Open and Olympic champion was not at his best, he certainly did enough to have survived against most other players apart from the superbly in-form Monfils.

The 22-year-old Frenchman reminded everyone during his 6-4, 6-4 win that he was tipped as a future world number one himself and that he still has the speed of foot, the weight of shot, the passion, and enough time left to achieve that goal.

World number 13 Monfils will face Andy Roddick, who defeated Romania’s Victor Hanescu, for a place in the final.

The other semi-final will be a mouth-watering clash between Roger Federer and Murray, a repeat of the 2008 US Open final won by the Swiss.

Federer enjoyed a 6-2, 7-6 (8-6) win against Philipp Kohlschreiber, the eighth-seeded German, coming from 3-6 down in the tie-break to win it 8-6 with five perfectly played points in a row.

Murray also enjoyed a hot streak during his 6-2, 6-4 win over Sergiy Stakhovsky of the Ukraine, which was a repeat of their US junior open final of 2004.

From 3-4 down in the first set the Scot won 23 points out of 25, scoring points in such a wide variety of ways that it underlined him as a serious threat to the top two.

Thursday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):

Quarter-finals: 4-Andy Roddick (US) bt Victor Hanescu (Romania) 6-3, 6-2; 5-Gael Monfils (France) bt 1-Rafael Nadal (Spain) 6-4, 6-4; 2-Roger Federer (Switzerland) bt 8-Philipp Kohlschreiber (Germany) 6-2, 7-6 (8-6); 3-Andy Murray (Great Britain) bt Sergiy

Stakhovsky (Ukraine) 6-4, 6-2.

Wednesday’s results:

Second round: 4-Andy Roddick (US) bt Arnaud Clement (France) 6-3, 7-5; 2-Roger Federer (Switzerland) bt Andreas Seppi (Italy) 6-3, 6-3; 5-Gael Monfils (France) bt Nicolas Devilder (France) 7-5, 7-6 (7-5); Victor Hanescu (Romania) bt Mikhail Youzhny (Russia) 6-2, 6-4; 3-Andy Murray (Great Britain) bt Philipp Petzschner (Germany) 6-2, 6-4; 1-Rafael Nadal (Spain) bt Karol Beck (Slovakia) 6-1, 6-2; Sergiy Stakhovsky (Ukraine) bt Alexander Peya (Austria) 7-5, 6-3; 8-Philipp Kohlschreiber (Germany) bt Kristof Vliegen (Belgium) 6-4, 6-7 (4-7), 6-4.

Tuesday’s results:

First round: Karol Beck (Slovakia) bt Michal Przysiezny (Poland) 4-6, 6-4, 7-5; 2-Roger Federer (Switzerland) bt Potito Starace (Italy) 6-2, 6-2; Mikhail Youzhny (Russia) bt 6-Igor Andreev (Russia) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4; Kristof Vliegen (Belgium) bt Oscar Hernandez (Spain) 6-1, 6-7(4), 7-6(5); 1-Rafael Nadal (Spain) bt Fabrice Santoro (France) 6-0, 6-1; Philipp Kohlschreiber (Germany) bt Marco Chiudinelli (Switzerland) 6-4, 6-3; Alexander Peya (Austria) bt 7-Dmitry Tursunov (Russia) 2-6, 6-3, 6-4; 3-Andy Murray (Britain) bt Albert Montanes (Spain) 6-2, 6-4; Arnaud Clement (France) bt Diego Junqueira (Argentina) 6-1, 6-2.—Agencies