Nine-time champion Roger Federer beat Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert Saturday to reach the NOVENTI OPEN final, giving himself a chance to play for title No. 10 at the event. A year ago, Federer was upset in the final by Borna Coric. And despite that being his 12th championship match at the ATP 500 tournament, the Swiss didn’t know if he’d ever battle for the trophy in Halle again.

“I get a chance a year later because after my loss here last year, I didn’t know if I was going to ever be in another Halle final,” Federer said. “You always leave with a bittersweet taste where you had a good tournament and yet you’re frustrated you lost the final. So I’m happy I’ve got another opportunity to win this tournament I like so much, and of course it will be special to win a tournament for the first time ten times.”

The top seed knows that if he defeats David Goffin on Sunday, he will lift his 10th trophy at this event, a feat he has yet to accomplish. But the 101-time tour-level titlist also understands he needs to win the match before thinking about that.

“Somebody tough is going to be there in the final to make my life difficult. So I’m really just going to be trying to focus on the match,” Federer said. “I know it sounds boring but that’s what I’ve got to do, block out all the rest, and I did that exactly today as well. I was just really focussed, a point-for-point mentality. I think that is what’s going to get me over the line tomorrow.”

Federer – Most Finals By Tournament

The fact that it’s the 13th time he will compete for the Halle trophy isn’t particularly significant for the 37-year-old, whose personal record for number of finals reached is 14, at his hometown tournament in Basel.

“It’s just that it is another final on top of all the finals that I’ve played here, that I get another chance after last year’s loss against Coric,” Federer said.

In the semi-finals, Federer faced an aggressive player in Herbert, who likes to come to net often. They had never played before. But Federer knows Goffin well, owning a 7-1 FedEx ATP Head2Head series lead against the Belgian, including a victory in Halle three years ago.

“Maybe tomorrow I can expect again more like the Bautista Agut match, tough baseliner, moves super-fast and that’s where his qualities lie, to be able to dominate the baseline,” Federer said. “I think today was good. I was better in first-strike tennis, I was able to stay out of trouble on my serve and utilise my chances when I had them on the return. So I was very happy.”

Federer – Most Titles By Tournament

This is Federer’s first grass-court tournament of the season, whereas in the past two years, he also competed in Stuttgart because he did not play on clay in those years. Federer has not been put off by the transition, though.

“So far, I’m very happy,” Federer said. “My game is there where I want it to be.”

Gilles Simon isn’t making it easy for himself at the Fever-Tree Championships, but he’s getting the job done.

After defeating Nicolas Mahut on Friday in the longest match on record at the Queen’s Club since 1991 (three hours and 21 minutes), he took out fourth seed Daniil Medvedev 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-3 in two hours and 38 minutes on Saturday to reach the final.

“It was hard to recover for this one. Daniil and I practise together and we knew it was going to be tough,” said Simon. “It’s hard for me to hit through him, but when you play a match and you’re a bit tired, sometimes you relax and play great. I was feeling the ball great, even if I wasn’t feeling great in the legs.”

The Frenchman is through to his first final of the season after semi-final finishes in Pune, Sydney and Marrakech. Sunday will mark his first grass-court final since Eastbourne in 2013 (l. to Lopez). He seeks his first title on the surface and to become the first French player to win this event.

Simon awaits the winner between eighth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime and wild card Feliciano Lopez.

“It’s a really hard tournament to win and one of the best in the season. You only have the top players who are able to win here,” said Simon. “I’d like to be part of that list, but I’m just focussed on recovering now and we’ll see what happens tomorrow.”

The Nature Valley International, held at Devonshire Park in Eastbourne, is a combined ATP Tour and WTA event held the week before Wimbledon. 

Andy Murray will continue his comeback from hip surgery when he teams up with Marcelo Melo in doubles action at the ATP 250 grass-court event. Countrymen Kyle Edmund and Daniel Evans will also compete in Eastbourne, after receiving wild cards into the main draw. They will be joined in the singles field by the likes of Marco Cecchinato, Gilles Simon, in-form Italian Matteo Berrettini, Fernando Verdasco and two-time champion Richard Gasquet.

Here’s all you need to know about the Eastbourne tennis tournament: when is the draw, what is the schedule, where to watch, who won and more. 

Established: 1995

Tournament Dates: 24-29 June 2019

Tournament Director: Gavin Fletcher

Draw Ceremony: Friday, 22 June

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Schedule (View On Official Website)
* Qualifying: Saturday and Sunday at 11:00am
* Main draw: Monday – Friday at 11:00am
* Doubles final: Friday, 28 June
* Singles final: Saturday, 29 June at 3:00pm

How To Watch
Watch Live On Tennis TV 
TV Schedule

Venue: Devonshire Park
Main Court Seating: 5,000

Prize Money: €684,080 (Total Financial Commitment: €745,880) 

Tickets On Sale: Buy Now

View Who Is Playing, Past Champions, Seeds, Points & Prize Money Breakdown

Honour Roll (Open Era)
Most Titles, Singles: Jonas Bjorkman, Richard Gasquet,  Ivo Karlovic, Feliciano Lopez, Greg Rusedski (2)
Most Titles, Doubles: Mike Bryan, Jonathan Erlich, Andy Ram (3)
Oldest Champion: Feliciano Lopez, 32, in 2014
Youngest Champion: Richard Gasquet, 19, in 2005
Lowest-Ranked Champion: No. 92 Denis Istomin in 2015
Most Match Wins: Jonas Bjorkman and Greg Rusedski (24)

2018 Finals
Singles: Mischa Zverev (GER) d Lukas Lacko (SVK) 64 64   Read & Watch
Doubles: [WC] Luke Bambridge (GBR) / Jonny O’Mara (GBR) d Ken Skupski (GBR) / Neal Skupski (GBR) 75 64  Read More

Social
Hashtag: #NatureValleyInternational
Facebook: @thelta1
Twitter: @the_LTA
Instagram: @lta

Did You Know… This ATP 250 tournament has been staged in two cities: Nottingham, from 1995-2008 and 2015-16, and in Eastbourne, from 2009-14, 2017-present. 

The Turkish Airlines Open Antalya, which made its ATP Tour debut in 2017, is staged the week before Wimbledon.

Frenchmen lead the field at the third edition of the grass-court tournament. Benoit Paire, who won the clay-court title in Lyon last month, is the top seed while returning finalist Adrian Mannarino is seeded second. Defending champion Damir Dzumhur and former Top 10 players Pablo Carreno Busta and Janko Tipsarevic also feature. 

Here’s all you need to know about the Antalya tennis tournament: what is the schedule, where to watch, who won and more. 

Established: 2017

Tournament Dates: 23-29 June 2019

Tournament Director: Umit Yilmaz

Draw Ceremony: Friday, 21 June, at 7:00pm

Are You In? Subscribe To Get Tournament Updates In Your Inbox

Schedule (View On Official Website)
* Qualifying: Saturday and Sunday at 1:30pm
* Main draw: Sunday – Wednesday & Friday at 1:30pm, Thursday at 11:30am
* Doubles final: Friday, 28 June at 5:00pm
* Singles final: Saturday, 29 June at 3:00pm

How To Watch
Watch Live On Tennis TV 
TV Schedule

Venue: Antalya Tennis Arena
Main Court Seating: 5,126

Prize Money: €445,690 (Total Financial Commitment: €507,490) 

Tickets On Sale: Buy Now

View Who Is Playing, Past Champions, Seeds, Points & Prize Money Breakdown

Honour Roll (Open Era)
Most Titles, Singles: Damir Dzumhur, Yuichi Sugita (1)
Most Titles, Doubles: Marcelo Demoliner, Santiago Gonzalez, Robert Lindstedt, Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (1)
Oldest Champion: Yuichi Sugita, 28, in 2017
Youngest Champion: Damir Dzumhur, 26, in 2018
Lowest-Ranked Champion: No. 66 Yuichi Sugita in 2017
Most Match Wins: Adrian Mannarino (7)

2018 Finals
Singles: [2] Damir Dzumhur (BIH) d [1] Adrian Mannarino (FRA) 61 16 61   Read & Watch
Doubles: Marcelo Demoliner (BRA) / Santiago Gonzalez (MEX) d [3] Sander Arends (NED) / Matwe Middelkoop (NED) 75 67(6) 10-8  Read More

Social
Hashtag: #AntalyaOpen
Facebook: @antalyaopen
Twitter: @antalyaopen
Instagram: @antalyaopen

Did You Know… The seven grass courts at the Kaya Palazzo Belek luxury hotel were constructed under the expert guidance of the All England Lawn Tennis Club, Wimbledon. The facility also features 10 clay courts, eight hard courts and four indoor courts.

One year ago this week, Felix Auger-Aliassime was No. 172 in the ATP Rankings with just one tour-level win to his name. Then 17, the Canadian was still battling his way through the ATP Challenger Tour.

Flash forward to Friday, and the World No. 21 beat top seed Stefanos Tsitsipas to become the youngest player in 20 years to reach the semi-finals of the Fever-Tree Championships, putting himself within one victory of cracking the Top 20 for the first time. He can accomplish that feat by defeating former champion Feliciano Lopez on Saturday.

“How do I explain it?” Auger-Aliassime asked. “I think it’s the result of a lot of work behind years and months. I think even last year I was having wins that I’m having this year, like, beating Top 20 players, but I just couldn’t find a way to repeat that over the weeks and in a full tournament.

“I think this year is just the fact that everything added up, all the work that I have done, because I felt like for a year now I have been playing pretty well, but I think this year I just kind of found my rhythm, I just found my beat, and I think I have been on the right track. I haven’t left sight of it. I think that’s how I explain my rapid rise this year.”

Felix is only 18, but he has accomplished plenty in 2019. The #NextGenATP star has made his first three ATP Tour finals, including one at the ATP 500 tournament in Rio de Janeiro in February. He also advanced to his first ATP Masters 1000 semi-final in Miami. There have been few if any signs that Auger-Aliassime is afraid of big moments.

“That’s what I work for. I think I kind of visualise myself — whenever I’m training, whenever I’m working in the gym — I’m visualising myself to be playing these type of matches and winning these type of matches,” Auger-Aliassime said. “So I think when the day comes, I feel prepared, I feel ready, and as well with the experience I have gained over this year and last year with different situations, playing finals now, so obviously that adds also a lot of things and a lot of positive things, because now I feel better. I handle these situations better and I stay more calm. That’s obviously been a big key mentally for me this year.”

Auger-Aliassime has won both of his FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings against Tsitsipas, last year’s Next Gen ATP Finals champion. The Canadian also triumphed in all three of their singles clashes in the juniors, leading Tsitsipas to say Friday that not only does he believe Felix will win Grand Slam titles, but, “I might never beat him”.

“It’s humbling. I appreciate that from him, especially coming from him, because he’s beaten these players and he’s been playing good against these top players,” Auger-Aliassime said. “I think for me that’s obviously the next challenge with winning, winning tournaments, is to beat players like Rafa, Novak, Zverev, or Nishikori. I think I have been playing well also on clay, but I haven’t found quite the way to beat these guys.”

Not only has Felix earned the respect of fellow players, but he has also impressed some of tennis’ legends. The teen met Boris Becker in Paris while he recovered from a groin injury that kept him out of Roland Garros.

“He just said that I have been doing good work, that he’s following me, and to keep on doing what I was doing and that good things would happen,” Auger-Aliassime remembered. “I think you have to really understand what he says. I think it’s important to know that it’s not something light. It’s something that I think the best players have done, trying to just take all the not important things outside and just focus on really what you have to do every day. I think that’s what made the difference for the top guys.”

Andy Murray and Feliciano Lopez will complete their darkness-delayed doubles quarter-final on Saturday at the Fever-Tree Championships. They lead the British pair of Daniel Evans and Ken Skupski 6-4, 4-5.

A forehand volley winner from Lopez on Evans’ serve secured a break at 3-3 in the first set and they rode that momentum to the early advantage. Evans responded in the second set with a glorious return winner on Murray’s serve to give the British duo a 3-1 lead.

But with Evans serving for the second set at 5-3, 40/30, Murray erased the first set point with a vintage forehand topspin lob winner. A backhand winner from Lopez on deciding point brought the set back on serve before the match was called for the evening.

Earlier in the day, Evans and Skupski won their first-round match over #NextGenATP duo Felix Auger-Aliassime and Alex de Minaur 6-3, 7-5.

The three other semi-final spots have been locked in. Fourth seeds Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan defeated Roland Garros finalists Jeremy Chardy and Fabrice Martin 6-3, 7-6(6). They’ll take on Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury, who upset second seeds Mate Pavic and Bruno Soares 6-4, 6-4.

Third seeds Henri Kontinen and John Peers took out Jamie Murray and Neal Skupski 7-5, 7-6(6). Jamie was seeking his 400th ATP Tour doubles match win. Kontinen/Peers await the winner of Lopez/Murray and Evans/Skupski.