In his first grass court match of the season, Roger Federer will come up against Philipp Kohlschreiber for the ninth time on the professional tour and leads the series with a perfect 8-0 head to head record against the German. Their last meeting on the tour took place at the Paris Masters in 2013 and he holds three wins against Kohlschreiber at Halle already.

Following a solid clay court showing, which ended with a quarter-final round of the French Open after a loss to eventual champ Stan Wawrinka. He will now look to secure an eighth title in Halle ahead of the Wimbledon Championships at the end of the month.

“I’ve been playing great for the last 12 months,” he said. “I had the feeling that everything went well after I played at Halle last year, except in Australia where it didn’t go so well. But I was confident everywhere else, so I hope I can play well here.”

“Of course at this stage of my career I want to have the perfect preparation for Wimbledon,” said Federer. “That means a victory here. I want to defend the title in a tough field of competitors. That’s exactly what I need right now.

Unlike his upcoming opponent, Kohlschreiber is coming off a week on grass already, as he performed at the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart, where he lost to Gael Monfils in the quarter-final stage of the tournament.

In all eight of their previous meetings, Kohlschreiber has only taken a set or more off Federer on one occasion: the 2009 Wimbledon Championships, where they went four thrilling sets. While Kohlschreiber has had more practice on the grass court surface so far this season, Federer should have little trouble working his way into the second round of the tournament.