Federer beats Khachanov to advance to his 11th Halle final

While Zverev is 15 years younger than the Swiss, Federer also mentioned that he is looking to extend his career as much as possible.

ROGER FEDERER FIRED an ominous warning to his rivals for Wimbledon glory by thrashing Alexander Zverev 6-1 6-3 to claim a record ninth title at the Gerry Weber Open.

But he quickly fell behind in the second as Zverev, a finalist a year ago, who has already won three titles in 2017, charged to a 4-2 lead and held on to take the set.

Swiss great Roger Federer thrashed Alexander Zverev to win his ninth title at the Wimbledon warm-up tournament in Halle on Sunday. I played great today.

Khachanov, being fairly new to the tour, aged just twenty-one, and having only recently played his sixtieth tour level match, has not yet faced the veteran Federer. "So I'm happy to react right away and let that be forgotten and actually move on and remind myself I actually can play well on grass".

Prior to Sunday's final, Zverev hailed "Roger (Federer) the best player of all time on grass" and it seemed like the youngster was overawed by the moment, standing face-to-face with his childhood idol. Zverev reached the final previous year but lost to Mayer.

He earned a second break point with some deft volleying, which he pounced on to race through the first set in 24 minutes. I think going into Wimbledon he's going to be probably the favourite to win the whole thing. Yuichi Sugita of Japan was dismissed in the first round for the loss of just four games, but his second round match against Mischa Zverev, who he double bagelled at Halle in 2013, was a more competitive affair. I love playing finals, I like big matches, and I've missed it over the (preceding) months.

Federer had a busy start to the year including the capture of his 18th Grand Slam at the Australian Open.

"I thought I was very calm out there, even in hard moments".

But for now, Federer will rightly revel in his glory, beating a near-certain future champion in Halle, and can now turn his attention to chasing an eighth Wimbledon crown.