 Federer completed victory in an hour and five minutes |
World number one Roger Federer booked his place in the final of the Kooyong Classic in Melbourne by easing to a 6-3 7-6 win over Russia's Marat Safin. A single break was sufficient for Federer to clinch the opening set but Safin broke in game six of the second before serving for the set at 5-3.
Federer broke back and then levelled before winning the tie-break 7-2.
He will meet Andy Murray in the final of the exhibition event should the Briton defeat Andy Roddick on Friday.
Earlier, Croatian Ivan Ljubicic defeated German Tommy Haas 7-6 6-4 and Czech Radek Stepanek beat Chilean Fernando Gonzalez 6-4 7-6 in consolation matches.
Federer, aiming for his second Kooyong title, showed a marked improvement on his display against Stepanek on Wednesday.
"We had some big hitting from the baseline," said Federer, who lost to Safin in the semi-final of the 2005 Australian Open.
"With Marat, you're going to get the rhythm because he's such a good ball striker.
"I definitely served better and just tightened up the game a bit. I was really happy."
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