Roger Federer edged past Roberto Bautista Agut 6-3 4-6 6-4 to reach the Halle semi-finals in another tough test.
The top seed broke in the last game to keep his hopes alive of a 10th title in Halle as he continues his Wimbledon preparations.
After a comfortable opening set, Federer’s form dipped in the second set before edging the decider to reach the last four.
Next up for Federer is Pierre-Hughes Herbert in the semi-finals tomorrow.
It was a comfortable start from the nine-time champion as he took advantage of his Spaniard’s tentative start and broke straight away.
After a tough test yesterday, Federer made life fairly easy for himself with simple serving patterns which Bautista Agut failed to read.
Despite the early deficit, the Spaniard played himself into the match and started to find some big forehands as he started to hold more comfortably.
However Federer once again found his form in the last game of the set as he broke for a second time and sealed the opening set in 29 minutes.
The second set saw the world number 20 regroup though and prove why this may not be as easy as the first set might have suggested.
Two wins over Novak Djokovic this year had built his confidence up this year and an early break in the second set saw him back into the match.
The second set was a bit average from Federer as he started to make unforced errors and failed to really test the Spaniard in the second set.
As for Bautista Agut, he raised his level just like Tsonga did yesterday and started to have a high percentage of first serve as he dominated proceedings from the back of the court.
On third set point, Bautista Agut sealed the second set to force a decider against the nine-time champion.
A better performance was needed in the deciding set from Federer as Bautista Agut started to extend the rallies and blast past Federer’s defence.
Scary good from RBA 🤯
He's making life very difficult for Federer out there…@BautistaAgut #NoventiOpen19 pic.twitter.com/A2J0X1j462
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) June 21, 2019
Both players created break points early on with all of them being saved through bold serving and great tactical play. A missed return on one of the break points saw Federer frustrated as the decider looked like it was heading towards a tiebreak.
But the deadlock was finally broken in the tenth game after a lacklustre game from the Spaniard handed the break and the match to a relieved Federer.
A brave display from the Spaniard, who played aggressive tennis and tested Federer in Halle again but the nine-time champion survived and moved into the last four.
In Federer’s bid for a 10th title, he will now have to pass Pierre-Hughes Herbert as he looks to make the final as he is the only top four seed remaining in the tournament.
