Defending champion Roger Federer will bid for a seventh Halle title on Sunday after beating Japan's Kei Nishikori 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) in the semi-final of the grasscourt tournament. Swiss Federer, ranked fourth in the world, will meet 69th-ranked Alejandro Falla in the title match after the Colombian earlier upset Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber in the first semi-final.
Kohlschreiber, the 2011 winner, fell 5-7, 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 to the 30-year-old South American. Federer, 32, kicked off his grasscourt campaign in Halle as he bids for a boost ahead of his latest assault on Wimbledon where he has been champion on seven occasions. Halle was the site of his only title in 2013 and is the tournament where he first appeared in 2005 as a 19-year-old.