ISTANBUL — Roger Federer stood one match away from his first claycourt title in three years after reaching the final of the inaugural Istanbul Open with a 2-6 6-2 7-5 win over Argentine eighth seed Diego Schwartzman on Saturday.
The top seed fired six aces as he advanced to his fourth ATP final of the year and the 128th of his career.
The Turkish crowd backed world number two Federer throughout the match, even when he was handed a code violation for angrily hitting the ball away as he lost the first set.
"I had a slow start maybe, yesterday was tough so it took me a little bit of time," said Federer, who also needed three sets to reach the semi-final.