Basel: Valencia Roger Federer defied a 33-ace onslaught from Ivo Karlovic to reach his ninth straight final at the Swiss Indoors on Saturday with a 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 6-3 victory.
The five-time hometown champion is now into his 11th career final at the St Jakobshalle, the event where he got his start in the sport two decades ago as a ballboy.
“I’m clearly relieved, it was always going to be a match like this against him,” said Federer, now 12-1 over man-mountain Karlovic.
“You always have a good feeling getting out of a match like this as the winner.”
It took a mighty effort from the 33-year-old world number two who achieved the break he needed in the third game of the final set.
Federer landed a return at the Croatian giant’s feet, which Karlovic netted to hand over three break points.
Karlovic then double-faulted as Federer broke for 2-1 to wild screams from a partisan crowd in excess of 9,000.
The end eventually came when the top seed leapt for an overhead smash for three match points. One was all he needed, with a volley winner sealing a Sunday final with Belgian outsider David Goffin.
“He served the best he ever has against me,” said Federer. “I’m very impressed with how big he served.
“I never expected to break in that third set. I was very happy to get that and bring it home.”
Top seed Federer added: “It’s unbelievable how successful I’ve been at this tournament.
“I’m clearly overjoyed and hope to play another good match and enjoy the final. I really felt the crowd support today.
“The [Basel] streak is great, but I’m only focussed on trying to win tomorrow.”
The 28th-ranked Goffin ended the dream run of teenager Borna Coric, the conqueror of Rafael Nadal, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in his semi-final.
In Valencia, Andy Murray took a huge step towards sealing his place in the ATP World Tour finals as he beat top seed David Ferrer 6-4, 7-5 to reach the Valencia Open final.
Murray has put himself in prime position for a seventh consecutive appearance at the season-ending tournament in London with a run of 17 wins in his last 19 matches, including victory over Ferrer in the final of the Austrian Open last week.
The Scot and Ferrer are currently eighth and ninth in the race to London with four places still up for grabs following Rafael Nadal’s decision to withdraw to have his appendix removed on Friday.
“You do get an adrenaline rush playing in front of a big crowd,” said Murray, who lifted the Valencia title in 2009.
“Because of the way the match was today there was a lot of very important points as well so the crowd were very engaged in the match and it was a great atmosphere.”
