HALLE, Germany: Seven-time champion Roger Federer on Friday reached the Halle semifinals where he will face Croatian giant Ivo Karlovic who fired a record-breaking 45 aces in his last-eight clash.

World No.2 and top seed Federer defeated Germany’s Florian Mayer 6-0, 7-6 (7/1) as he continues his build-up to an assault on an eighth Wimbledon title.

Federer required just 19 minutes to take the first set against Mayer before going on to conclude the tie in a little over an hour.

Karlovic battered his way into the semifinals by smashing 45 aces past a bewildered Tomas Berdych en route to a 7-5, 6-7 (8/10), 6-3 victory.

The 36-year-old Karlovic, who stands 2.11m (6ft 11in) tall, won the match with the last of his aces and now has 94 on the Halle grass courts from three rounds of tennis.

“I’m extremely happy about the record,” Karlovic said of his battery of aces, a new record in a best-of-three set match.

“Hitting aces helps a lot, you can avoid the volleys. I was surprised when I was told on court after the match how many aces I hit. I didn’t know it was that many. Hopefully I can continue like that in the semifinal.”

His record came just two days after Germany’s Sabine Lisicki blasted 27 aces in a match in Birmingham — a new record for the women’s tour.

Japan’s world No.5 Kei Nishikori also landed in the semifinals after beating Poland’s Jerzy Janowicz 6-4, 5-7, 6-3.

Second seed Nishikori will take on the winner of the match between Frenchman Gael Monfils and Italy’s Andreas Seppi.

Nishikori, 25, took two and a half hours to make the final four for the second year running.

Last year, after beating Monfils in the quarters, Nishikori was defeated by Federer, who went on to win the tournament for a seventh time.

Murray survives

Andy Murray survived a major scare to keep his bid for a record-equaling fourth Queen’s Club title on track with a hard-fought victory over Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller in the quarterfinals on Friday.

Murray dropped the first set and was taken to a tie-break in the second before finally prevailing 3-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-4 to reach the last four at the Wimbledon warm-up event for the fourth time.

Watched by Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho for the second time this week, this was Murray’s least convincing display of the tournament.

Earlier, South Africa’s Kevin Anderson powered into the semifinals with a 7-6 (9/7), 7-5 victory against Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.

Anderson was appearing in the Queen’s quarterfinals for the third time in four years and the world number 17 finally made it to the last four after bludgeoning Garcia-Lopez into submission with 18 aces.

Anderson’s last four opponent will be French seventh seed Gilles Simon, who fought back from a set down to defeat world number eight Milos Raonic 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.

Simon had lost all three of his previous meetings with Raonic, but the 30-year-old booked his first appearance in the Queen’s last four on his fifth match point.

The world number 13 will aim to reach his second final of the year — he won the Marseille Open in February — when he meets Anderson.

“I feel it was really tough,” Simon said. “I couldn’t return any serve for one set and I was under pressure every time.

“I don’t know how it turned out of nowhere but I was able to hold on.”