Barclays ATP World Tour Finals
4th -11th November 2013
The O2 arena, London
Last updated: 26/11/2011
Roger Federer by Getty Images
Roger Federer defeated David Ferrer 7-5, 6-3 to move into the final of the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals at The O2 arena, London and will play Jo-Wilfried Tsonga who overcame Tomas Berdych in the other semi-final.
The Swiss former world No.1, who will now attempt to secure a record sixth end of season title, continued his 100% record this week in London to overcome his Spanish opponent in one hour and 25 minutes.
"I thought it was a tough match" said Federer afterwards. "You could clearly see why David (Ferrer) beat (Andy) Murray and (Novak) Djokovic here. He takes the ball really early, is able to generate great angles off his plays and is super consistent.
"I think he's serving better than he has in the past, although I don't think he had his best serving day against me today, which helped me get into more of the baseline rallies. Obviously was a key 5-4 game for me to hold and then break the next game, then actually break again early on in the second set.
"After that, I was able to serve well, mix it up, be dangerous for him. It was a bit more straightforward. But I really had to dig deep to find a way to beat David today."
The 30 year-old Federer can now look forward to a final on Sunday against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga who defeated Tomas Berdych 6-3, 7-5 in the second semi-final in front of a capacity 17,500 crowd in the evening session on Saturday.
Tsonga commented afterwards: "It's a good victory for me because I was really tight.I didn't play good tennis, but I won. This is the goal of this sport. I did it tonight. So I'm just really happy to reach this final.
"All the time [it's] really exciting to play against Roger. It's going to be really special here, for my first final. It's going to be an amazing atmosphere I think on the court, and I like that. I'm sure I will respect Roger a lot and play my best tennis."
Meanwhile Federer said: "Well, it's obviously a special occasion for me tomorrow playing my hundredth final, possibly winning my 70th, winning my sixth at the World Tour Finals. That would be a record" Federer added.
"There's a lot on the line, and in a way there's not. All I can do is try to play a good match against a dangerous player."
Meanwhile Ferrer was philosophical in defeat after winning two round robin matches this week against Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic.
"I think he was better than me, of course today. Maybe in the first set I had chance with 5-4 but I made mistakes, particularly my backhand. After this in the second set he was playing better. He was playing with more confidence and I didn't serve very well."
In the doubles, Max Mirnyi of Belarus and Daniel Nestor of Canada reached the final by beating American twins Bob and Mike Bryan 7-6(6), 6-4.
The duo will play Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski in Sunday's final after the Polish pair beat Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi 6-4, 4-6, 10-6.