Roger Federer shrugged off a late upsurge from David Goffin as he pulled off a 6-1 7-6 win to move into the semi-finals of the Gerry Weber Open in Halle.
The top-seeded Swiss hardly broke a sweat at the outset, breaking his fifth-seeded Belgian adversary on all four occasions to bag the opening set 6-1 in just 21 minutes.
Goffin made a strong comeback in the second as he had a set point at 5-4 up. However, Federer broke right away to make it all square and take the set into the tie-breaker.
The Swiss superstar continued to have nerves of steel as he saved four set points in the tie-breaker before closing it out 12-10 to cruise through in an 81-minute battle.
“I thought it was my best match thus far; it is a good win for me and I’m clearly very happy to be in the semis,” ATP World Tour quoted the 34-year-old after his win.
Moving on to the last-four stage, Federer is scheduled to cross the swords with rising German star Alexander Zverev, who beat Marcos Baghdatis 7-6 6-3.
Third seed Dominic Thiem also advanced to the semi-finals after his opponent Philipp Kohlschreiber conceded a walkover citing hip injury. He, next, plays Germany’s Florian Mayer, who ousted last year’s runner-up Andreas Seppi, 7-6 6-3.
