Top seed Roger Federer will challenge for a ninth Halle Open title after reaching the Wimbledon warm-up event final with a 6-4, 7-6(5) victory over rising Russian talent Karen Khachanov on Saturday.
The 18-times grand slam champion, who captured the Australian Open, Indian Wells and Miami titles this year, skipped the entire claycourt season to improve his chances of winning a record eighth title at the All England Club.
Despite a shock exit from Stuttgart on his comeback last week, Federer has improved in Halle and has not lost a set. He will now play the winner of the other semi-final between Frenchman Richard Gasquet and local favourite Alexander Zverev.
The pair traded breaks in the first two games but Federer made amends by grabbing a second one to restore his advantage and clinch the first set on his second set point.
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The Swiss lured Khachanov to the net on several occasions, including at 4-4 in the second set and the Russian dumped a forehand volley into the net to give Federer two break points.
{{/usCountry}}The Swiss lured Khachanov to the net on several occasions, including at 4-4 in the second set and the Russian dumped a forehand volley into the net to give Federer two break points.
{{/usCountry}}But instead of serving out the set, the top seed was broken again and the Russian even held two set points at 6-5 before the world number five recovered and forced a tiebreak.
He converted his first match point to reach an 11th Halle final.