Dubai, United Arab Emirates -- Top-seeded Novak Djokovic used a strong start Thursday to roll to a straight-set win in the quarterfinals of the $2.23 million Dubai Tennis Championships.

Three of the top four seeds in the tournament advanced to Friday's semifinals.

Only second-seeded Andy Murray, who withdrew Thursday because of a viral illness, failed to move on, giving Richard Gasquet a walkover victory.

Djokovic, who wasn't very sharp in his first two Dubai matches, won the points on his first 14 serves en route to a 6-3, 6-4 win over fifth-seeded Marin Cilic.

Djokovic ended up winning 69 percent of his service points and didn't suffer a service break in the match.

Third-seeded Gilles Simon advanced with a 7-6 (7-3), 6-1 win over Fabrice Santoro and earned a semifinal berth against Djokovic. They have split their two previous ATP meetings, with both going three sets.

The other semifinal sends Gasquet against fourth-seeded David Ferrer, who was a 7-5, 6-1 winner Thursday over Igor Andreev. Ferrer is 3-1 against Gasquet in his career but Gasquet won their most recent meeting.

Copyright 2009 by United Press International.