Federer tops Herbert for shot at 10th Halle title, against Goffin

Roger Federer served up a straight-sets semifinal victory over Pierre-Hugues Herbert at the Noventi Open on Saturday, and is now just one win away from an historic 10th title in Halle, Germany.

Federer was on his game from the start, breaking Herbert in his first service game and holding serve until he had the 30-minute first set in his pocket. The two traded holds for the first six games of the second set when the Swiss came alive again: breaking, holding and breaking one last time to close out the Frenchman after just 62 minutes, 6-3, 6-3, in their first career meeting.

“I thought it was a very solid performance from me,” Federer told ATPTour.com after the match. “I didn’t struggle on serve, and when I had my opportunities on the return, I was able to take them.”

Federer is now through to his 13th career final in Halle. He has a 9-3 final-round record at the 500-level event, winning titles in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2017. He finished runner-up to Lleyton Hewitt in 2010, to Tommy Haas in 2012 and to Borna Coric last year.

If Federer prevails on Sunday, Halle be the first ATP tournament he’s won 10 times, and he’ll also become just the second man in the Open Era to win the same ATP event 10 times. The other? Rafael Nadal, who’s won Monte Carlo and Barcelona 11 times each, and Roland Garros 12 times.

Standing between Federer and that title in Halle will be David Goffin, who held off in-form Italian Matteo Berrettini, 7-6(4), 6-3.

Berrettini has been one of the hottest players on the tour in the last two months, cutting his ranking from No. 55 to No. 22 since April. The big-serving Italian came into this semifinal having won 20 of his last 23 matches and was fresh off his first grass court title in Stuttgart last week.

But Goffin hung tough, rallying from a mini-break down to take the first set tie-break. He then snuck out the only break of the match in the penultimate game and then served it out, firing his sixth ace of the day on match point:

“Matteo is such a great player, he’s serving so well,” Goffin said of Berrettini, who hit 14 aces in the match and zero double faults. “I had to be focused and aggressive and not too passive, otherwise he would have had a couple of chances to take opportunities. I played well from the start.”

Goffin is through to his 12th career ATP final, going 4-7 in his first 11. It’s his first final since finishing runner-up to Grigor Dimitrov at the season-ending ATP Finals in 2017. He’s also trying to equal the biggest title of his career, having won a 500-level title to his name in Tokyo in 2017.

Federer will be playing his 155th career ATP final, going 101-53 in title bouts.

Federer leads Goffin in the head-to-head, 7-1, with Goffin’s lone win coming in the semifinals of the ATP Finals in 2017 (2-6, 6-3, 6-4). They’ve played just once before on grass, with Federer defeating the Belgian in the Halle quarterfinals in 2016, 6-1, 7-6 (10).

“He’s a great guy. I really like his game,” Federer said of Goffin. “He’s got one of the best backhands in the game. He’s super fast on his feet and he’s got great footing on a court that’s really difficult.

“He played a great match against Berrettini today to stop his run and also against [Alexander] Zverev. I watched that match and that was mighty impressive. So I think I’m going to have a tough final, anyway at this stage, but particularly against David, who I have a lot of respect for.”