By James Waterson                     Photo Credit: Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

(September 8, 2011) Roger Federer set up a semifinal rematch with World No. 1 Novak Djokovic after he defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 at the US Open Thursday night.

Although Federer avenged his loss to Tsonga in the quarterfinals of Wimbledon and the third round of the Rogers Cup, he wasn't flawless.

He broke Tsonga to go up 2-1 in the first set, only to drop his serve when play resumed after a rain delay at 3-2. Federer broke again to go up 5-4, and he played a quick service game to close out the set.

The Swiss then claimed a 4-1 advantage before a string of errors led to Tsonga breaking and holding to reach 4-3. Federer held his nerve, though, as he broke back and finished off the set on his serve.

Federer played an excellent third set, as Tsonga had only one break point chance throughout.

Altogether, he hit 29 winners to 30 unforced errors, compared to Tsonga's 17 winners and 34 unforced errors. Perhaps most impressively, Federer won 45 percent of his returning points, which led to six breaks of serve.

He moves on to face World No. 1 Novak Djokovic, who advanced to the semifinal after his opponent, Janko Tipsarevic, retired in the fourth set.

Djokovic has been a constant opponent for Federer at the US Open, as well as the other slams. The Serb beat Federer in the semifinals of the Australian Open, and the Swiss returned the favor in the semifinals of the French Open.

At the US Open, they've played in the semifinals or finals in every year since 2007. Federer won every one of those matches except for last year's, when Djokovic beat him in five sets.

Federer said he was excited to be playing Djokovic on such a big stage once again.

“He's been having an amazing season so far, so it's a challenge right now in the men's game. That's what I like, who I like to play against,” Federer said.

The Swiss said Saturday's clash is  going to be decided from the baseline and that he and Djokovic are going to come out swinging.

“I think we're both gonna play aggressive. He's moving well since years now. He's probably taken his game up to a bit of a higher level, but mostly in terms of confidence I think. But I think when we do play against each other it's always exciting. We have great rallies against each other. You know, I like playing against him because it's a battle of the baseline a bit if you like,” he said.