Federer beats Khachanov to advance to 11th Halle final
HALLE, GERMANY » 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 top-ranked 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.
Cilic, Lopez advance to Queen’s final
LONDON » Marin Cilic and Feliciano Lopez recovered from having their serves broken for the first time this week to secure returns to the final of the Queen’s grass-court tournament on Saturday.
Cilic, the 2012 champion, ended Gilles Muller’s seven-match winning run on grass 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 hard-fought 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.
Kvitova reaches 1st final since attack
BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND » Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova beat Lucie Safarova in the Aegon Classic semifinals to reach the first final since her playing hand was injured in a knife attack at her home.
This is Kvitova’s first grass-court final since her triumph at 2014 Wimbledon, though this significant achievement was tinged with anti-climax as Safarova quit with a right thigh strain after only eight games. Kvitova was leading 6-1, 1-0.
Nevertheless, Kvitova hit her groundstrokes with pace and accuracy, especially from the forehand side.
In the final, the Czech leftie will play Ashleigh Barty, an Australian who was impressive in containing former French Open champion Garbine Muguruza 3-6, 6-4, 6-2.