Top seed Roger Federer and home hope Alexander Zverev have split sets in their semi-final clash at the Gerry Weber Open. Zverev took the opener 7-6(4), with Federer responding with a late break in the second for 7-5.

Zverev, the highest-ranked teen in the Emirates ATP Rankings, dropped just four points on serve in the 39-minute opener, firing 14 winners in total. Neither player earned a break chance and it was the German who notched the first mini-break for 3-1 in the ensuing tie-break. He would survive a break back from Federer and capture the set on his first set point.

Federer, who owns a 54-5 record in 14 appearances in Halle, saw his sets-won streak at the grass-court event snapped at 15 straight. He is bidding to reach the final for an unprecedented 11th time.

In the second set, they would remain on serve through the first 10 games. Two aces from Federer turned aside a pair of break points at 4-3 and three service winners from Zverev denied a trio of chances in the next game. But Federer would finally convert the first break of the match at 5-5, striking a sublime drop shot winner as Zverev slipped at the baseline. He would force a decider at the Gerry Weber Stadion. 

At 19, Zverev is looking to become the first teen to upset a Top 5 opponent since Andy Murray fell to then 18-year-old Borna Coric in Dubai last year. Federer, meanwhile, has not lost to a teenager in nearly 10 years, having claimed his last 16 such matches. His most recent defeat came to Murray at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in Cincinnati in 2006

It is the second encounter in less than a month between the Swiss and the German, with Federer prevailing on the clay of Rome.

The Aegon Championships, the ATP World Tour 500 Tournament of the Year, has celebrated its four-time champions around the grounds of The Queen’s Club and its Victorian pavilion this week.

Four-time former titlists Roy Emerson, John McEnroe, Boris Becker and Lleyton Hewitt were special guests on Friday at The Queen’s Club, which has hosted a pre-Wimbledon grass-court tournament since 1890.

Stephen Farrow, tournament director of the Aegon Championships; Jim Moore, the tournament referee for the past 39 years, and Graham Kimpton, head groundsman at The Queen’s Club, presented Emerson, McEnroe and Becker quarter-size replica trophies. Hewitt had received his miniature trophy earlier in the year.

World No. 2 Andy Murray is going for a record fifth title at the tournament this week.

FOUR-TIME KINGS OF QUEEN’S

Becker now coaches World No. 1 Novak Djokovic and John McEnroe has recently teamed up with Milos Raonic for the grass-court swing. Hewitt retired from professional tennis in January this year.

Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram are into the final of the Gerry Weber Open after defeating top seeds Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan 6-4, 7-6(2) on Friday. The Bryans had not dropped a set coming into the semi-final clash, but were broken twice and succumbed in 74 minutes.

Klaasen/Ram served well in the second set, firing five aces and only dropping two first serve points. The third seeds will be aiming for their first team title this year against either Henri Kontinen/John Peers or Lukasz Kubot/Alexander Peya.

Defending Champions Advance At The Queen’s Club

Top seeds and defending champions Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut beat Juan Martin del Potro and Marcelo Melo 6-4, 6-4 in one hour for a place in the Aegon Championships semi-finals.

They will next face wild cards Jonathan Erlich and Colin Fleming, who saved five match points to beat third seeds Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau 2-6, 7-6(7), 10-8 in one hour and 35 minutes. Rojer and Tecau could not convert three match points on serve at 5-4 in the second set, then at 6/5 and 7/6 in the tie-break.

Marin Cilic, who is through to the singles semi-finals, partnered fellow Croat Marin Draganja to a 7-6(3), 6-3 victory over John Isner and Marcin Matkowski in 76 minutes.