Top seed Federer is targetting his sixth title in Halle

Roger Federer will take on old rival Lleyton Hewitt in the final of the Gerry Weber Open in Halle after the pair battled through their semi-finals.

Five-time champion Federer notched up his 29th straight win on the German grass courts as he beat local hope Philipp Petzschner 7-6 (7-3) 6-4.

Hewitt, the Wimbledon champion in 2002, saw off Germany's Benjamin Becker 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (7-3) 6-2.

Federer has won 17 of 24 matches with Hewitt, including the last 15 in a row.

The Swiss, 28, did not play in Halle last year but won the title in the five years before that.

Federer said of his opponent on Saturday: "He played great from the beginning and the first set could have gone either way.

"I didn't know whether he was already playing his best tennis or whether he could improve further so I was a bit scared."

The six-time Wimbledon champion, who lost his number one status on Monday after going out in the quarter-finals of the French Open, will be bidding to notch up his 16th straight victory over the Australian in their 25th meeting.

"We've known each other for years and once played doubles together in Wimbledon and I always looked up to him," said Federer.

"It is something special to play against him."

Hewitt said: "He's obviously the best grass-court player around. It's a good test for me to go out there. I'm going to have to obviously play extremely well and execute what I want to do and try and put him under some kind of pressure."

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