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    17 June 2012| last updated at 08:20AM

    TENNIS: Seventh heaven



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    TOO GOOD: Federer to battle Haas in final

    HALLE: FIVE-TIME champion Roger Federer will face "mystified" German Tommy Haas in the final of the ATP grasscourt tournament after the two tour veterans clinched straight-sets semi-finals wins yesterday.

    Federer reached the Halle final for the seventh time after a 6-1, 6-4 victory against unseeded Russian Mikhail Youzhny.

    Wildcard Haas, a former World No 2, defeated compatriot Philipp Kohlschreiber, the quarter-final conqueror of Rafael Nadal, 7-6 (7-5), 7-5, and admitted later it was a mystery how he managed to reach the final.

    Second-seeded Federer showed few signs of fatigue despite scraping past Canada's Milos Raonic in a third-set tie-break in the last eight on Friday, and needed barely an hour to see off the World No 31 Youzhny.

    Federer fired down eight aces, and remains on course to win the Wimbledon warm-up event for the sixth time.

    "The key for me was coming back from 0-40 then holding that and going 4-1," said the 30-year-old Federer, who was beaten by Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals at the French Open last week.

    LONDON: Croatia's Marin Cilic booked his first appearance in the final at Queen's Club after defeating former champion Sam Querrey 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in the semi-finals yesterday.

    Cilic is the first Croat to reach the Queen's final since Ivo Karlovic in 2005 and will play Argentinian David Nalbandian, who beat Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 6-4.

    Querrey, the World No 77, has an impressive record at this pre-Wimbledon warm-up event, winning the title in 2010 and losing just three times in 13 matches.

    But Cilic had won the only previous meeting of these two 6ft 6in big servers over five sets at Wimbledon in 2009 and he has been in fine form of late.

    The World No 25, who reached the Munich final in April, has been so dominant this week that he had only dropped serve twice during his three previous matches.

    The 30-year-old Nalbandian, seeded 10th, drew on his vast experience to subdue rising star Dimitrov and complete a remarkable run of three wins in 48 hours. AFP

    Tommy Haas

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