Federer beats Khachanov to advance to 11th Halle final

Roger Federer defeated Karen Khachanov 6-4, 7-6 (5) to advance to the final of the Gerry Weber Open for the 11th time on Saturday.

Federer will bid for his 92nd career title in what will be his 140th final against the fourth-seeded Alexander Zverev, who rallied to beat Richard Gasquet 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 for his seventh title-decider.

Zverev, Germany’s topranked player at No. 12, fired 11 aces and converted four of eight break opportunities to win in under two hours. Zverev, who lost last year’s final to compatriot Florian Mayer, will be going for his fourth title of the season on Sunday.

“He’s the best of all time on this surface,” Zverev said of facing Federer, whom he beat in the semifinals last year. “It will still be a very difficult match.”

Chasing his ninth title at the grass-court tournament, Federer was serving for the match when he was broken by Khachanov. The Russian then missed two set points before Federer took it to the tiebreaker. with a 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 victory in the first semifinal.

Lopez then gained a measure of revenge for his loss to Grigor Dimitrov in the 2014 final by beating the Bulgarian 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 in a hardfought contest that was delayed mid-match by the first bout of heavy rain this week.

It’s not the title match many would have predicted at the start of the week, with Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka and Milos Raonic — the top three seeded players — all getting eliminated in the first round. But it still contains two strong grass-court players who will be gaining plenty of confidence heading into Wimbledon, which starts on July 3.