Roger
Federer eased closer to a ninth title at the Halle grass court tournament on
Friday when he demolished defending champion Florian Mayer of Germany 6-3, 6-4
in the quarter-finals.
The world
number five, building up to an assault on an eighth Wimbledon title in July,
will next face Karen Khachanov, who defeated fellow Russian Andrey Rublev 7-6
(10/8), 4-6, 6-3 in his last-eight clash.
Federer, 35,
has yet to drop a set after three matches in Halle this week while his win on
Friday took his head-to-head record against Mayer to 8-0, with five of those
wins coming on grass.
“It was
important to be aggressive off the baseline and make him feel my variation and
the power I can bring to the court,” said top seed Federer who has now reached
the semi-finals in Halle on 13 consecutive occasions.
“And then
having good footwork, to see the short ball, the floater, where I can come in and
knock it off with a volley. I think I did it very well. I had lots of chances
to even go up a double break in the second set.”
Federer, who
hit 11 aces and 32 winners, said facing Khachanov on Saturday will present a
new challenge for him.
“It will be
interesting. He’s big and strong and seems super excited to be on tour and he’s
working hard,” said the Swiss.
“I don’t
know him that well yet so it’s a match where I’ll most likely focus on my own
game. Make sure I serve well, because he can go through spells where he can
serve big. It could be somewhat similar to how I played today.”
Saturday’s
other semi-final will see German fourth seed Alexander Zverev face Frenchman
Richard Gasquet.
Zverev
defeated Spanish seventh seed Roberto Bautista Agut 6-7 (6/8), 7-6 (7/1), 6-1
while Gasquet saw off Robin Haase of the Netherlands 6-1, 3-6, 6-1.
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