Seven-time Gerry Weber Open champion Roger Federer found his way into final in Halle, where he will now meet Andreas Seppi for the 13th time on the professional tour. Federer holds a 11-1 Head to Head record against Seppi and will look to add to that en route to his eighth title in Halle.

Up against Ivo Karlovic in the semi-final round, Roger Federer managed to beat the towering Croat in 88 minutes to secure his spot in the final of the tournament. It was a tight match, as Federer was unable to take command of the match in the opening set until the tiebreak, which was when he edged it out. The second set was much of the same, which resulted in a 7-6(3), 7-6(4) scoreline.

“It comes down to a shot here or there,” said Federer. “We are both mentally prepared. We’ve played so many breakers against one another and I think he was better in the set in the first set, I was better in the breaker. I guess I deserved it because I stayed calm. And in the second set probably I was better throughout the set and he was maybe a bit better in the breaker. Maybe I got a little bit lucky in the breaker.

“So, it was a tough match. I knew that going in. I was struggling to read his serve in the first set, but handled it better in the second set. It was tough. It’s just a bit of a grind and physically it’s like easy, mentally rough.”

The Swiss No. 1 will come up against Andreas Seppi in the Halle final. The Italian reached that stage of the tournament when Kei Nishikori retired down 1-4 in the opening set of their semi-final match with a calf injury.

“I felt it yesterday during the match and I fought through yesterday, but today [there] was a little pain this morning and I tried in the match, but I couldn’t really move,” said Nishikori. “It just came suddenly yesterday. So there is nothing I could do and it’s very unfortunate.”

This marks the 13th time that these two competitors will cross paths on the professional tour and the third time this season. Seppi was unable to tarnish Federer’s record against him during Federer’s worst season on the tour but stunned crowds in Melbourne when he ousted the Grand Slam great at this year’s Australian Open for his first ever win against the Swiss. However, he still have to overcome a 11-1 h2h record against Federer, which does not bode well for his chances on Sunday.