Roger Federer beaten at Mercedes Cup by Dominic Thiem

Roger Federer's wait for a first title of the year will go on after Dominic Thiem came from a set down to beat the Swiss great at the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart.

Having moved second in the all-time list of ATP Tour wins on Friday with a 1,072nd career victory in his quarter-final success against Florian Mayer the Swiss great had much tougher assignment in the shape of Thiem who is second only to Novak Djokovic in titles won this year.

Federer missed the French Open with a back injury, the first Grand Slam event he has missed this century, and was a late addition in Germany as he seeks matches to tune up for Wimbledon which gets underway at the end of the month.

But in a third meeting of the year between the men it was Thiem who emerged victorious in just under two hours, saving a couple of match points in the process to claim his second win over Federer and a fifth final of the year as he seeks a fourth title.

The Austrian moved to a career best seventh in the world rankings this week after his run to the French Open semi-final and it was the 22-year-old who handed a defeat to Federer in the third round of the Rome Masters in the Swiss star's last event.

And Federer's return was to end with semi-final defeat, leaving him with a solitary final in Brisbane in January and no title since November 2015 following an injury-ravaged year.

However it was the Swiss who took the first set in routine fashion with the solitary break of serve, before Thiem roared back to lead 5-0 in the second set. Federer rallied and two breaks of serve of his own took him back to all square.

Thiem stopped the rot as the pair held serve to take the second into a tie-break and after Federer wasted two match points it was Thiem who held his nerve to grab the crucial mini-break and clinch the set before rain forced the players off.

The Austrian grabbed the early break of serve in the deciding set, leading 4-3 before the rain came for a second time, and when they returned it was Thiem who claimed the two games he needed with the minimum of fuss.

Thiem will now face home favourite Philipp Kohlschreiber in Sunday's final, after the No 7 seed beat Juan Martin Del Potro 6-3 6-4 in 77 minutes.

The Argentinian had his service broken three times by Kohlschreiber who did not have to face a single break and secured a comfortable triumph on his third match point.