Roger Federer can make personal history next week at the NOVENTI OPEN. The nine-time titlist in Halle can lift his 10th trophy at an ATP Tour event for the first time.

Federer has triumphed nine times at both the NOVENTI OPEN and the Swiss Indoors Basel, which is his home event. Last year, the Swiss superstar was just one set from accomplishing the feat in Halle, but he fell in the final against Borna Coric.

Federer’s Most Titles By Tournament

The 37-year-old owns a 63-7 record in Halle, and the last time he did not reach the semi-finals was 2001. This will be his 15th appearance since then. In the 16 times he has competed on the Halle grass, Federer has always advanced to at least the quarter-finals.

Six of the seven players Federer has lost to at this ATP 250 event have cracked the Top 5 of the ATP Rankings in their careers. 

Roger On Grass
Federer owns the best tour-level grass-court record in the Open Era, having won 87.1 per cent of his matches on the surface (176-26). He has claimed 18 titles on grass, which is eight more than Pete Sampras, the second player on the list. View FedEx ATP Performance Zone

Did You Know?
Nobody other than Federer who competed in the 2000 Halle draw, which was the Swiss star’s first appearance, remains active. Federer’s coach Ivan Ljubicic lost in the second round to eventual champion David Prinosil.

Roger Federer will have the chance to gain revenge in his opening match at next week’s NOVENTI OPEN in Halle.

The nine-time champion’s campaign for a 10th title at the ATP 500 event will begin against John Millman, the man who ended his 2018 US Open campaign with a gruelling four-set victory under the lights of Arthur Ashe Stadium. Federer will be looking to add to his 63-7 record at the grass-court tournament, following an impressive run to the Roland Garros semi-finals (l. to Nadal). The World No. 3 is aiming to lift his first title in Halle since 2017, after losing to Borna Coric in three sets in last year’s championship match.

View Halle Draw

If Federer overcomes Millman for the second time in three FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings, his path to the trophy does not get any easier. The 37-year-old would meet former World No. 5 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or in-form Frenchman Benoit Paire in the second round.

Tsonga has defeated Federer in six of their previous 17 FedEx ATP Head2Head encounters, which includes a five-set comeback victory in their only previous clash on grass at Wimbledon in 2011. Paire also arrives in Halle in good form, after winning two ATP Tour titles on clay this year in Marrakech (d. Andujar) and Lyon (d. Auger-Aliassime).

Federer shares the top quarter of the draw with seventh seed Roberto Bautista Agut and former World No. 7 Richard Gasquet. Bautista Agut has reached the quarter-finals or better in both of his previous two appearances in Halle, while Gasquet owns three ATP Tour trophies on grass, including last year’s Libema Open title (d. Chardy).

There will be no repeat of last year’s final after defending champion Coric landed in the same half as Federer. The World No. 14 dropped only one set en route to the title last year, which included victories against Federer and second seed Alexander Zverev. Coric opens against Jaume Munar of Spain and headlines the second quarter of the draw alongside fifth seed Gael Monfils.

Second seed Alexander Zverev will meet Robin Haase in his opening match. The two-time runner-up (2016, 2017) will be hoping to earn his first win on grass this year after falling in his opening match at the MercedesCup to Dustin Brown in three sets. Zverev is joined in the bottom quarter by eighth seed Guido Pella, David Goffin and 2011 champion Philipp Kohlschreiber.

The third quarter of the draw sees third seed Karen Khachanov and sixth seed Nikoloz Basilashvili open against players who have enjoyed success on grass. Khachanov will meet last year’s Turkish Airlines Open Antalya winner Damir Dzumhur, while Basilashvili will face MercedesCup finalist Matteo Berrettini.

Matteo Berrettini had never reached an ATP Tour semi-final on grass before this week’s MercedesCup, but you’d never know it by his play.

The No. 2 Italian defeated home favourite Jan-Lennard Struff 6-4, 7-5 on Saturday to reach his third championship match of the season and his first-ever on this surface. Berrettini has held all 39 of his service games this week. And although he faced his first two break points of the ATP 250 tournament, he was not phased.

“This week I’m playing really well. I’m feeling really comfortable on the court,” Berrettini said. “Since last year I think I’ve improved a lot on grass. Last year I didn’t like it so much. That was the key.”

Berrettini will play #NextGenATP Canadian sensation Felix Auger-Aliassime for the title after former World No. 3 Milos Raonic withdrew before their semi-final due to a lower back injury. In their first FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting, Berrettini will try to lift his third ATP Tour trophy and Auger-Aliassime will attempt to capture his first in his third final of the year.

“He’s a great player. He’s in his third final this year and for sure he’s playing really well,” Berrettini said. “I’m really looking forward to seeing what’s going to happen. I never played him, I just practised once [with him] here for the first time. I think it’s going to be a great game and I’ll try to do my best.”

Berrettini faced a tough test in Struff, who was fresh off a run to the fourth round at Roland Garros. The German has also earned three of his five Top 10 wins this year. But the Italian won all but four of his first-serve points (33/37) to set the tone, breaking once per set to secure his triumph after one hour and 14 minutes.

Berrettini also reached the final in Munich on clay earlier this year, and he will try to lift his first trophy in Germany on Sunday.

“I like Germany. This is my second final here this year,” Berrettini said. “The crowd was for sure helping [Struff], but it was helping me also. I really enjoyed it.”

Auger-Aliassime will try to win his first ATP Tour title when he faces the Italian, having fallen just short in the Rio de Janeiro and the Lyon finals.

“It’s just tough to see Milos having to withdraw. He’s one of the best guys on Tour. He’s always been great to me since I first arrived on Tour when I was a junior,” Auger-Aliassime said on court. “It’s tough to see him go out that way but at the same time it is what it is and I have to try and get ready for tomorrow’s final as best as I can.

“It’s been an unbelievable week for me. I’ve been playing good tennis. I got through on the edge yesterday and to be in another final, it’s unbelievable. So I think I’ll try to enjoy it and give everything also because it’s obviously my third final this year, so I’ll try to give it my all to maybe get my first title.”

Raonic was disappointed to not be able to compete, and he apologised to the crowd on court.

“I’m very sorry and apologetic that I’m unable to compete today. I was hoping for the best after my match yesterday,” Raonic said. “I woke up this morning not feeling my best. I wanted to come out here and give it a try. And after looking at it very diligently with my team, and the way I was feeling with my back, I found it was not possible for me to compete without taking any greater risk.”  

Did You Know?
This is Auger-Aliassime’s first professional grass-court tournament, and when he reached the semi-finals he became the youngest player to reach the last four at tour-level on three or more surfaces in a season since 1999 when Lleyton Hewitt did it.

Borna Coric lived to fight another day on Friday when he saved one match point to edge into the Libema Open semi-finals. The second-seeded Croatian recovered from 2-5 down in the third set to knock out seventh seed Cristian Garin of Chile 6-7(4), 6-3, 7-6(6) in two hours and 30 minutes.

Coric fought back and saved one match point with his 16th ace of the match at 5/6 in the deciding-set tie-break to set up a clash against Adrian Mannarino of France.

“It was obviously a very, very tough match as I was 2-5 down in the third set, a double break,” Coric told ATPTour.com. “I was packing my bag on the changeover, but then I maybe relaxed and played a little bit better. I turned the match around somehow. I’m not too tired and now I have 20 hours to recover.”

Almost 12 months ago, Coric lifted his second ATP Tour trophy with victory over Roger Federer in the Noventi Open final in Halle. The 22-year-old reached the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships semi-finals in February and is now 19-10 in 2019.

View ‘s-Hertogenbosch Singles & Doubles Draws

The 23-year-old Garin was unable to convert two break points on Coric’s serve at 5-5, 15/40, but won six of the first seven points in the tie-break and eventually closed out on his fourth set point. Two groundstroke errors from Garin saw Coric break twice — at 3-3 and 3-5 — in the second set, before the World No. 32 bounced back to lead 5-2 in the decider. Coric then won 16 of the next 21 points to lead 6-5.

In a little more than four months, Garin has risen from No. 95 in the ATP Rankings on 4 February to a career-high No. 32. He has compiled a 22-9 match record in 2019, including two ATP Tour titles at the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship (d. Ruud) and at the BMW Open by FWU (d. Berrettini). He also reached the Brasil Open final in Sao Paulo (l. to Pella).

Mannarino recorded his first win over fifth-seeded Belgian David Goffin 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 in the pair’s fifth meeting, which lasted two hours and 26 minutes. Goffin, who won the first four games of the match, was unable to convert one break point at 5-5 in the second set.

Elsewhere, Jordan Thompson advanced to his first ATP Tour semi-final with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory over fellow Australian Alex de Minaur, the third seed, in just under two hours. De Minaur had recorded wins over Thompson in the first two weeks of the season at the Brisbane International and at the Sydney International.

Having gone 1-11 at tour-level in 2018, the 25-year-old is already 18-11 on the season with his third Top 30 victory of 2019, which includes wins over Karen Khachanov and Grigor Dimitrov at the Miami Open presented by Itau in March.

Defending champion Richard Gasquet needed to play two matches on Friday. The eighth seed first beat Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan 6-4, 6-3 in 84 minutes, starting with a 6-4, 1-2 lead carried over from Thursday night. The Frenchman then returned six hours later to knock out Chile’s Nicolas Jarry 7-6(8), 6-4 for a place in the semi-finals. He saved three set points at 5/6, 6/7 and 7/8 in the first set tie-break.

Entering 2019, #NextGenATP Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime was outside of the Top 100 of the ATP Rankings and he had never made an ATP Tour semi-final. But on Friday, the 18-year-old saved a match point en route to defeating German qualifier Dustin Brown 7-6(3), 6-7(2), 7-6(2) to reach his fourth tour-level semi-final as he continues his pursuit of a maiden ATP Tour title at the MercedesCup.

Auger-Aliassime, who struck 30 aces, will play sixth seed and former Wimbledon finalist Milos Raonic for a spot in his third tour-level final. The teenager reached the championship match at the Rio Open presented by Claro and the Open Parc Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes Lyon, which both are played on clay.

The seventh seed was projected to face reigning Nitto ATP Finals champion Alexander Zverev in the last eight. But Brown, the athletic, shotmaking qualifier upset the top seed on Thursday. And the German did not make it easy on Auger-Aliassime, serving for the match at 5-4 in the third set.

But Brown let slip his one match point when he missed a high forehand volley wide. And on his seventh break point of the match, Felix chased down a lob, quickly turned around and whipped a forehand past the German to earn his first service break.

And that was all the momentum Felix needed. Auger-Aliassime earned two quick mini-breaks in the final-set tie-break — Brown missed a forehand volley long, and the seventh seed then crushed a backhand passing shot for a winner — en route to a 5/0 lead, and he never looked back.

Not only did the #NextGenATP star win 83 per cent of his first-serve points, but 46.9 per cent of the first serves he made resulted in an ace.

Brown began the week without having won a tour-level match since the 2017 US Open, and he was trying to make his first ATP Tour semi-final since Gstaad in 2016.

Did You Know?
This is the first time Auger-Aliassime has played three tie-breaks in a single match as a professional. Earlier this year at the BNP Paribas Open, he lost a final-set tie-break against Yoshihito Nishioka.

On Friday, the Laver Cup announced that Roland Garros finalist Dominic Thiem, World No. 5 Alexander Zverev and Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters champion Fabio Fognini will join Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer on Team Europe at the Laver Cup this September in Geneva. Only one spot on the team remains.

“Being part of Team Europe at Laver Cup in Prague was an unbelievable experience. It’s so unique being on the same team as the players you are usually fighting against across the net,” Thiem said. “When we played together in Prague (in 2017), Rafa and Roger cheered me on from the side of the court and gave me tactics for the matches. It was cool to have such legends of the game supporting me. I’m really looking forward to experiencing the Laver Cup again.”

Zverev, the reigning Nitto ATP Finals champion, triumphed in Geneva in May for his first ATP Tour title of the season.

“Laver Cup is one of the most fun weeks of my year,” Zverev said. “Winning in Prague and Chicago as part of Team Europe has been unbelievable. There’s a team spirit and team atmosphere that’s unlike any other. I can’t wait to get together again and defend our title.”

Fognini, who cracked the Top 10 in the ATP Rankings this week to become the oldest player to do so for the first time since 1973, will compete at the Laver Cup for the first time.

“I’m very excited to be playing the Laver Cup in September,” Fognini said. “Playing as part of a team is special in tennis, where we are more used to having a one-on-one battle every match. I’m looking forward to competing alongside all the great players on Team Europe.”

Team Europe Captain Björn Borg, is looking forward to working with his team.

“I’m delighted to have Dom (Thiem) back in the team. He was a great player for us in Prague and his form is outstanding, as we saw recently in his run to the final at Roland Garros,” Borg said. “Sascha (Zverev) is not just one of the rising stars of the game, [but] he’s a great team player and loves this competition. Fabio is renowned for his passion and has had an incredible season and I have no doubt he’ll make a great contribution to the team.

“This talented group of players, alongside Rafa and Roger, two of the greatest players of all time, gives us an incredibly strong team and I believe we are in a very good position to win the title for a third time.”

The third edition of the Laver Cup will take place at the Palexpo, Geneva, from 20-22 September 2019. Team Europe hoisted the trophy at the inaugural event in Prague in 2017 and in Chicago in 2018. Team World Captain John McEnroe will announce his first team members in the coming weeks.

Jan-Lennard Struff was dominant on serve against 2017 champion Lucas Pouille on Friday in a 6-4, 6-4 victory over 70 minutes at the MercedesCup. The German, who recorded his first win in four FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting against Pouille, is through to his first ATP Tour semi-final since January 2019 at the ASB Classic in Auckland (l. to Norrie).

Struff will now play Karen Khachanov’s conqueror, Italy’s Matteo Berrettini, who won 90 per cent of his first-service points to beat American Denis Kudla on German soil for the second time this season. Berrettini won 6-3, 6-3 in 72 minutes, one month on from their BMW Open by FWU Open second-round encounter.