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. Despite a shock exit from Stuttgart on his comeback last week, Federer has improved in Halle and has not lost a set. 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. 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. He converted his first match point to reach an 11th Halle final.

Source: Standard Digital June 24, 2017 13:07 UTC