Federer, knocked off the number one spot by Rafael Nadal this week, will meet Lleyton Hewitt in the final after the Australian disposed of another German, Benjamin Becker, 6-7 7-6 6-2.

It will be a first final for Hewitt since having hip surgery at the beginning of the year.

The former Wimbledon champion found the going tough against world No.  52 Becker. Hewitt had the only break point of the first set, but failed to take it.

However, Hewitt had found his rhythm by the decider and sealed the match in two hours and 23 minutes.

"It's fantastic to be in a final again after a hip operation," Hewitt, playing the grasscourt event for the first time, told the tournament website.
 

In Birmingham, England, Maria Sharapova will have the chance to turn the tables on China's Li Na on Sunday when they clash in the final of the Edgbaston grasscourt tournament.

Sharapova, who fell in love with the relaxed club in Birmingham's suburbs in 2004 when she won the title before moving on to triumph at Wimbledon, beat American Alison Riske 6-2 4-6 6-1 in Saturday's semi-finals.

Top seed Li Na beat Aravane Rezai, the fourth seed from France, 6-1 3-6 6-3.

"It'll be good to play her again," Russian Sharapova, who lost to the Chinese player in the semi-finals last year, told reporters. "A year makes a big difference.

"I certainly don't like losing to the same person twice in a row -- I'm a big competitor. I'm certainly going to try to turn that around."

Sharapova is beginning to look like the player that won three grand slam titles and powered to the top of the rankings before a serious shoulder problem kept her out of the game for nine months in 2008-09.

Back at 17th in the rankings after drifting outside the top 100 early last year, she belted the ball around the slick grasscourts on Saturday and looks in good shape as Wimbledon approaches.

There is obviously nothing wrong with her shoulder either after she cracked down a serve at 121mph, the fastest one she has hit in her career.

"I played a very good opponent today, who played really well," Sharapova, gunning for a third title here, said. "I came through in the end and played good tennis. My game is trying to attack.

"If I'm doing it well, I should be winning the majority of my matches and that definitely gives you confidence."

Sharapova seemed completely in control against qualifier Riske, ranked down at 185, but she lost her way in the second set before regaining control of her youthful opponent.

"I had one sloppy game in the second set and let her back into the match and credit to her she did a great job of executing that set," Sharapova said.

"I definitely had to change a few things around in the third set and step it up a bit."
 

In London,  Mardy Fish set up an all-American final in the ATP grass-court event at Queen's Club with a straight sets win over Spain's Feliciano Lopez  on Saturday.

Fish, serving powerfully, defeated Lopez 6-3, 6-4 with the eighth-seeded Spaniard unable to reproduce the form that had seen him defeat compatriot Rafael Nadal, the world No. 1 and French Open champion.

Now Fish will face fellow American Sam Querrey, a friend, in the final here on Sunday.

Earlier on Saturday, the 6ft 6in (1.98 metres) Querrey defeated Germany's Rainer Schuettler 6-7 (9/11), 7-5, 6-3.

Querrey lost a close first set on a tie-break and did not earn a break point on the serve of former Australia Open finalist Schuettler until the 13th game of the second set.

But the big-serving 22-year-old then took charge.

A service break early in the final set saw Querrey heading to the final of an event that acts as a warm-up for Wimbledon, now the only one of tennis's four Majors played on grass.

This year's Queen's final will produce a suprise champion after a week of upsets that have seen defending champion Andy Murray, Andy Roddick, Novak Djokovic and Nadal all knocked out at the south-west London venue earlier in the week.

"It was a tough one out there and I'm glad to get through it," Querrey told BBC Sport.

"I just wanted to come out here and play well, you can't really control the outcome of other matches but I've never seen so many upsets as this week."