Roger Federer will be chasing a sixth Halle Open title after setting up a final showdown with fellow 30-something Tommy Haas today.
The 16-times Grand Slam winner raced into his seventh Halle final with a 6-1 6-4 win over Mikhail Youzhny. Federer wasted little time converting four of his eight break points to maintain a perfect record of 13 wins in 13 matches against the Russian.
"Mikhail started a bit slow but I think I took advantage of it and after that, I was able to get on a roll," the Swiss number two seed said. "I'm obviously excited to be a finalist here again."
Federer will face wildcard Haas tomorrow after the German beat Rafa Nadal's conqueror, compatriot Philipp Kohlschreiber, 7-6 7-5.
"It's always tricky playing Germans here in the final, but I'm looking forward to that match," said Federer.
Sunday's match will be the first Halle final to feature two 30-somethings. In 2009, Haas won the title aged 31.
Meanwhile, David Nalbandian reached his first grasscourt final since losing to Lleyton Hewitt at Wimbledon in 2002, when he ended Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov's run in the semifinals of the Queen's Club tournament.
The Argentine beat 21-year-old Dimitrov 6-4 6-4 and will play Marin Cilic in tomorrow's final, after the Croat overcame American Sam Querrey, the 2010 Queen's champion, 6-3 3-6 6-3.
"He's a tough player," Nalbandian said of sixth seed Cilic. "We've played a few times. I know he has a good serve, but I think I'm playing good - I'm in good shape and let's see what happens."
Both players struggled to hit the high notes in semifinals that were affected by gusting winds in west London that made serving difficult.
Nalbandian, seeded 10th here, and Cilic last met in a feisty five-set Davis Cup match in Buenos Aires in April, when the Croat registered his only victory in five attempts over the former world No. 3. Cilic remembers how the 30-year-old Nalbandian tried to unsettle him when he was first making his way in the game.
"I know when I played him first time, it was actually my first live Davis Cup rubber in 2006," Cilic said. "He was ranked No. 4 and I was 17 years old. He was pretty intimidating, having those few tricks of his.
"Warming up, he just hits the ball a little harder, trying to show he can accelerate and push you a little bit to become more nervous. But now it's different. When you are at that age, it's not easy."
Nalbandian has suffered the most from the poor English weather this week, having had his first-round match postponed on Monday and being forced to play twice in one day on Friday.
"I was supposed to play Monday, but I didn't," he said. "So it was a really tricky week. It wasn't easy but unfortunately that's the way it is."