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 made sure of his fourth ATP final of the year and the 128th of his career.
Federer will face the winner of the second semi-final between Bulgarian second seed Grigor Dimitrov and Uruguayan third seed Pablo Cuevas.
The 2009 French Open champion last won on clay in 2012 at the Madrid Masters -- although that year the tournament was played on a slick blue clay surface.