Roger Federer to face Alex De Minaur at Swiss Indoors in Basel
"It's hard to believe that I'm in another Basel final. It's super exciting"
Sunday 27 October 2019 08:46, UK
Roger Federer moved a step closer to a 10th title at the Swiss Indoors in Basel with a 6-4 6-4 win over Stefanos Tsitsipas to reach Sunday's final.
The top seed secured a 13th consecutive final appearance in the event and a sixth ATP Tour final for the 38-year-old this season.
Federer had seen his quarter-final opponent Stan Wawrinka withdraw due to a back injury.
The world No 3, though, was soon on the front foot against Tsitsipas, making the most of an early break chance to go on and take the first set.
After Tsitsipas failed to hold onto his serve in the opening game of the second set, Federer continued his momentum.
Having saved one break opportunity in the 10th game, Federer closed out his first match point chance to end Tsitsipas' run.
"It's hard to believe that I'm in another Basel final. It's super exciting," Federer said.
"[The fans] enjoy when I'm playing good tennis and it pushes me to play even better, keep on trying every point and try to make something happen. That's what you do with a home court advantage."
The Swiss will face Alex De Minaur in Sunday's final after the Australian defeated American Reilly Opelka in three close sets, 7-6 (7-2) 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (7-3).
At the Erste Bank Open in Vienna, top seed Dominic Thiem dug deep to beat Italian Matteo Berrettini 3-6 7-5 6-3 and delight the home crowd at the Wiener Stadthalle.
The Austrian said on atptour.com: "I never experienced such a great atmosphere here. It was full from the first point on. Such a loud atmosphere as well.
"It was perfect to play in and the match was on a very high level from the first to the last point. With all the support and home advantage, I was able to pull through."
Thiem will play Diego Schwartzman in Sunday's final. The Argentine world No 15 came through 6-3 6-2 against Frenchman Gael Monfils.
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