HALLE, Germany: Roger Federer moved to within a match of securing his first title of 2013 as he avenged his defeat in last year’s Halle final by beating veteran German Tommy Haas 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the semifinals yesterday.
Federer, 31 and ranked third in the world, will face Mikhail Youzhny in today’s final after the Russian beat French second seed Richard Gasquet 6-3, 6-2.
It will be Federer’s eighth Halle final having won the title five times at this pre-Wimbledon warm-up.
Federer said that it had been terrific to have such a hard match after his quarterfinal which had seen him breeze through 6-0, 6-0 against Haas’s compatriot Mischa Zverev.
“It was a great match for me to play and to win. Tommy can play really well here and we saw it last year,” he said.
“After losing the first set, there is not much margin for error anymore.
“I might be broken once by him and that could be it. He won most of the big points in the first set probably. Then in the second and third I was able to turn it around and win big points myself.
“So it is a big win for me and I think the quality of the game was extremely high.” Federer was adamant that he was not a fading force as he sets his sights on an eighth Wimbledon title.
“Honestly I’m playing pretty good for a long period of time,” he said.
“Clearly, I’m very happy to play the final tomorrow. It is a big final for me. After this we’ll focus on Wimbledon” Haas, four years Federer’s senior but who is enjoying something of a renaissance on court, won the first set in just over half-an-hour profiting from 10 unforced errors by Federer.
Federer, though, hit back early in the second set, breaking Haas in the second game and while the German saved two more break points at 5-2 down, Federer easily served out for the set in the following game.
It was a similar story in the deciding set as Haas contributed to his own downfall serving two successive double faults allowing Federer to go 2-1 up, an advantage he never let slip as he wrapped up victory on his second match point.
Federer, who came to Germany after being played off court by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the French Open quarterfinals, has a perfect record against Youzhny.
The 17-times Grand Slam champion, who will be playing only his second final of the year, has won all nine encounters with Youzhny, including the semi-finals at Halle last year.
Lisicki shocked
In Birmingham, Sabine Lisicki’s Wimbledon build-up came to grief with an unexpected defeat amidst prolonged controversy in the quarterfinals of the Birmingham WTA tournament yesterday.
Lisicki, the champion here two years ago, had hoped to win the title as she prepares for Wimbledon, which she believes she can win after reaching the semifinals and quarterfinals in the past two years.
However, she lost a ten-minute argument with the umpire and the tournament referee, and the match in three sets to Alison Riske of the United States.
The fifth-seeded German claimed that Riske should have been penalized for yelling out “come on” just four points before the end of a 7-6 (7/2), 2-6, 6-4 victory spread over two rain-affected days.
“You are not supposed to do that, it’s against the rules,” claimed Lisicki, who believed she should have been given a point, which would have put her 30-love up on her serve in the final game, and not 15-15.
“I still had a hit on the ball,” she reckoned. “If you look at the rule book it shouldn’t have been her point. It’s against the hindrance rule.” Lisicki argued at length with the umpire Lucy Grant, who appeared to think that Riske’s yelling, just after a drive volley from very close to the net, could not have affected the outcome of the rally.
Lisicki then called the referee, Denize Parnell, who refused to over-rule the umpire’s decision, requiring the match to resume at 4-5 in the final set and the former champion three points from defeat.
“I still think I was right,” said Lisicki. “I don’t think Alison did it on purpose — she probably didn’t think I could reach the ball — but I think I could.
