Five-times champion Roger Federer tamed big-serving Canadian Milos Raonic with a comfortable 6-2 6-3 win on Saturday to join Spain’s David Ferrer in the final of the Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati.
The 33-year-old Swiss, in a rematch of the Wimbledon semi-final that he won in three sets, improved to 6-0 against the Canadian fifth seed and will be playing in his second final in seven days after he lost to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at last week’s Rogers Cup in Toronto.
Sixth seed Ferrer, playing his first semi-final in 11 trips to Cincinnati, breezed past Frenchman Julien Benneteau 6-3 6-2 to move one win away from his 22nd title and second of the year.
Ferrer, who has reached at least the quarter-finals of all four tournaments he has played since crashing out of Wimbledon in the second round, needed just 71 minutes to earn his sixth victory in 10 meetings with Benneteau.
Federer enters Sunday’s final having won all 15 meetings with Ferrer, the most recent being a three-set victory in the Toronto quarter-finals earlier this month.