Federer serves up final with Zverev

Swiss second seed Roger Federer used a dominant service game to earn a 6-3, 7-6 (75) semi-final win over Dutchman Robin Haase at the Rogers Cup in Montreal on Saturday.

Haase, playing in his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 semifinal, did well to force a secondset tiebreak but Federer proved too much to handle in a match during which he fired down nine aces and dropped only nine points on serve.

Federer played German Alexander Zverev, who beat Canadian Denis Shapovalov 6-4, 7-5, in late yesterday’s final.

Federer, a 19-times grand-slam champion, whose five titles this year include wins at the Australian Open and Wimbledon, credited a positive mindset for helping him extend his winning streak to 16 matches.

“Confidence can get you a long way, and if you’re feeling fine physically and you are ready to fight mentally you have a lot of things in the bag,” said Federer.

Meanwhile, Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki rolled into the final of the WTA Toronto tennis by cooling off the red-hot Sloane Stephens, while Elina Svitolina needed two wins on Saturday to punch her ticket to the title match.

Caroline, the 2010 champion, required 80 minutes to eliminate a resurgent Sloane 6-2, 6-3 and reach her sixth final of 2017.

Fifth seeded Elina quashed defending champ Simona Halep’s quest for back-to-back titles with a 6-1, 6-1 demolition.

The win came just hours after she ousted reigning Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza 46, 6-4, 6-3 in a quarter-final that was postponed from Friday due to rain. Agencies