Alexander Zverev suffered a blow to his preparations for Wimbledon as he was beaten by David Goffin
Friday 21 June 2019 19:38, UK
Roger Federer maintained his pursuit of a record-extending 10th Halle Open title with a battling three-set victory against Roberto Bautista Agut to reach the semi-finals.
The world No 3, who also needed three sets to overcome Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quarter-finals, defeated the seventh seed from Spain 6-3 4-6 6-4.
Federer is aiming for a third title this year and will face world No 43 Pierre-Hugues Herbert in the last four of the grass-court tournament.
Frenchman Herbert, who will partner Andy Murray in the men's doubles at Wimbledon, progressed to the semi-finals when defending champion and fourth seed Borna Coric retired injured after losing the first set 7-5.
Earlier, Alexander Zverev suffered a blow to his preparations for Wimbledon as he was beaten by David Goffin in the Halle Open quarter-finals.
The world No 5, a two-time runner-up, lost 6-3 1-6 7-6 (7-3) against world No 33 Goffin.
Zverev, seeded second, withdrew from the doubles due to a knee injury earlier in the week and fell to his first defeat against the former world No 7 from Belgium.
Goffin will play in-form Italian Matteo Berrettini in the semi-finals of the grass-court tournament on Saturday.
Berrettini, who won the title in Stuttgart last week, extended his eight-match grass-court winning streak with victory against third seed Karen Khachanov 6-2 7-6 (7-4).
The 23-year-old has now beaten world No 9 Khachanov three times this season.
It was the second time in the 27-year history of the tournament that the quarter-final line-up featured the top four seeds.
