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HAMBURG, Germany : Defending champion Roger Federer will contest the final of the Hamburg Masters Series here for the fifth time in his career after seeing off Italy's Andreas Seppi in Saturday's semi-final.
The world number one was again untroubled, as he has been throughout this tournament, when he recorded a 6-3, 6-1 win over Seppi, ranked 43rd in the world, who had reached the last four of a Masters Series for the first time.
The Italian had his chances, but Federer never allowed him to settle and having dominated throughout, he broke the Italian's serve for the third and final time in the second set to claim the win in 79 minutes.
"It was quite a long first set and I created a lot of opportunities which wore him down for the second," said Federer on a soggy day in Hamburg where the stadium roof was closed due to persistent rain.
"The clay was quite wet and heavy, which meant it was good for the drop shots and Seppi used that tactic with some nice shots."
The Swiss master and four time winner here plays the victor of the show-down between clay-court King Rafael Nadal and Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic in Sunday's final.
Having beaten Nadal in last year's final, 2-6, 6-2, 6-0, to break the Spaniards 81-match winning streak, Federer said he was relishing the final having not dropped a set here so far.
He said: "I came here last year having just split with my coach and coming from Rome, I wasn't happy with my mental approach.
"I was really aggressive on my back-hand in the final, but it was a good hard match and I am sure tomorrow (Sunday) will again be good preparation for Roland Garros."
- AFP /ls
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