Roger Federer extended his Swiss Indoors win streak to 23 matches as he beat Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4, 6-4 on Saturday to reach the final for the 15th time, racking up his 50th win of 2019.
The top seed will be playing for his 10th title at his home tournament when he faces Alex de Minaur in a first-time meeting after the Australian stopped Reilly Opelka 7-6 (7/2), 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (7/3) earlier.
Federer, 38, has now made the Basel final in his last 13 appearances and 15th overall.
His last defeat came in the 2013 final at the hands of Juan Martin del Potro.
Tsitsipas, taken to three sets by Filip Krajinovic in the quarters while Federer rested, was immediately under intense pressure as a partisan crowd backed their man to go on the offensive.
The Greek escaped from the first five break points he faced but there was no halting Federer, who forced his opponent into a corner from where he could only find the net on the sixth opportunity.
Tsitsipas did well to prevent further damage but could not get back on serve, before Federer blasted into the lead in the first game of the second.
The 21-year-old forged his first break point in the final game of the match as the veteran favourite recovered from the brief hiccup to serve his way to a straightforward but impressive triumph.
(With inputs from OPTA)
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