Djokovic struggled in the Dubai heat before overcoming Simon

World number three Novak Djokovic claimed a hard-fought win over Frenchman Gilles Simon to reach the final of the Dubai Championships.

The Serb needed two hours and 44 minutes to beat the world number eight 3-6 7-5 7-5.

"I really believed till the end and mentally this is a very important win for me," said Djokovic afterwards.

He will face fourth seed David Ferrer in Saturday's final after the Spaniard beat Frenchman Richard Gasquet 6-2 6-2.

Ferrer dominated throughout and Gasquet's challenge disappeared from early in the second set as the Spaniard wrapped up victory in 75 minutes.

"This was my best match in the season and I was very focused," said Ferrer, who had lost two previous semi-finals this year after being match point up.

"Playing Djokovic will be difficult of course but I shall fight a lot."

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Djokovic failed to find any consistency early on and made a forehand error to trail 4-2 in the first set.

Both players had their chances to break in the second set before Djokovic broke in the final game with a forehand winner.

He then bounced back from trailing 0-2 in the decider to level at 3-3 when Simon produced a backhand error and broke again for the match, setting it up after Simon netted a low volley and then sealing the win with a smash.

"If I want to stay on top of the men's game, I have to win these matches," Djokovic added. "I made a lot of unforced errors in the first set and at the start of the second set.

"He was playing kind of solid, but only one style of tennis throughout the whole match. I needed to change something in my game so I could start winning the games and points, and that's what I did.

"I became more patient and played more from the baseline to give myself opportunities."

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