Toronto: World number one Roger Federer battled his way to a 6-1 5-7 6-3 win over Fernando Gonzalez at the Toronto Masters on Saturday to reach his 17th straight tournament final.
Back in action for the first time since claiming his fourth consecutive Wimbledon crown, Federer was severely tested by the 15th seeded Chilean but the Swiss stood firm to stretch his winning run on North American hard courts to 53 matches.
Standing between Federer and a 40th career title is young Frenchman Richard Gasquet, who earlier reached his second career Masters Series final with a 6-2 7-5 victory over 19-year-old Briton Andy Murray.
"I struggled in the second and third, it was a tough match but I'm happy to be through to the final," said Federer, who can match Ivan Lendl's record of 18 consecutive finals set in 1981-82 next week in Cincinnati.
"One month break, no tournaments, to come back and be in the final is all I could ask."
While Gasquet has lost all three of his meetings with Federer this season, including a first round thrashing at Wimbledon, the Frenchmen can take heart in being a member of an exclusive club of four players to have beaten the Swiss in the last two seasons.
The 20-year-old Frenchman shocked Federer in their first ever meeting in the quarter-finals in Monte Carlo last year joining Rafael Nadal, David Nalbandian and Marat Safin as the only players to beat the Swiss since the start of the 2005 season.
"It's really hard to win against Roger but I have no pressure tomorrow," Gasquet said.
"He is the favourite tomorrow (on Sunday) and I have no pressure. Maybe I lose in two sets, maybe I can win. He has a great serve, a great forehand. He is the best in the world. He never misses and he runs a lot. He's powerful, he's, always aggressive. He goes every time to the net. It's incredible."
After being stretched to three sets in the third round and quarter-finals, Federer appeared in no mood for another long night, roaring to a 5-0 lead before wrapping up the opening set in 21 minutes.
But Gonzalez would not exit meekly, the Chilean digging in his heels to match Federer shot-for-shot until he converted his only break of the match at 6-5 to level the contest at 1-1.
The tension mounted in the third set, as Gonzalez refused to buckle and Federer remained resolute.
With the sellout crowd sensing an upset, Federer seized control with a break to go 4-3 ahead and ruthlessly closed out the match by sweeping the next two games.
After a slow start to the season, Gasquet has been in red-hot form since the French Open, capturing titles at Nottingham and Gstaad with a 16-3 record. Two of those defeats came against Federer.
Although just one year Murray's senior, Gasquet displayed considerably more poise and confidence than the Scot in their first career meeting.
"I had a lot of confidence, I wanted to win and I did a good match," Gasquet said. "I served well, it was the key to the match."
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