Men's tennis stars reach finals at Swiss Indoors, Vienna Open
Federer seeks 10th title in Basel while Thiem achieves rare feat in Austria
Roger Federer delighted his hometown fans by cruising past Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4, 6-4 in the Swiss Indoors semifinals on Saturday.
Seeking a 10th career title in Basel, the 38-year-old Federer will play 20-year-old Alex de Minaur in Sunday's final at Basel.
"That's what you do with a home court advantage," said Federer, who has reached the final 13 straight times he has played the Swiss Indoors. "They enjoy when I'm playing good tennis and it pushes me to play even better."
De Minaur, a wild card, advanced by beating big-serving American Reilly Opelka 7-6 (2), 6-7 (4), 7-6 (3) in a meeting of unseeded players.
Federer and De Minaur, ranked 28th, have never played each other on tour.
Steps up with ace
Serving for the match, Federer saved the only break point seventh-ranked Tsitsipas had in the match.
Top-seeded Federer broke the Tsitsipas service at 2-2 in the first set, and created set point chances with a delicate angled drop volley for a winner. He clinched by firing an ace down the middle.
Federer broke again to begin the second set, taking his chance with a powerful forehand winner down the line.
Victory lifted Federer to a 50-8 record in 2019. It's his third straight year of 50 wins since an injury-ravaged season ended early in 2016.
Thiem 'able to pull through'
In Vienna, top seed Dominic Thiem came back from a set down to earn a 3-6 7-5 6-3 victory over Italy's Matteo Berrettini on Saturday to advance to his first Vienna Open final.
With the home crowd behind Thiem at the Wiener Stadthalle, the 26-year-old broke Berrettini five times in the contest and became the first Austrian to reach the tournament's final since Juergen Melzer beat compatriot Andreas Haider-Maurer in 2010.
"I've never experienced such a great atmosphere here," Thiem said. "It was full from the first point on, such a loud atmosphere as well.
No player has won more matches than Thiem when play goes to a deciding set this season (11 wins) and the victory also ended Berrettini's streak of 28 wins when he had taken the opening set.
Thiem will now play Argentina's fifth seed Diego Schwartzman who beat French fourth seed Gael Monfils 6-3 6-2 in the other semi-final.
"I am very confident now," Thiem added. It was a tough match mentally and physically... There is going to be an amazing energy again tomorrow."
With files from Reuters