Roger Federer to face David Goffin in Swiss Indoors Basel final

Home favourite Federer, the top seed, needed to dig deep to defeat Ivo Karlovic 7-6 (10-8) 3-6 6-3 and progress to yet another final.

The world number two, who still harbours ambitions to end the year atop the rankings, had to come from behind to beat Denis Istomin in the last eight on Thursday and he was pushed to a tie-break in a tight first set against Karlovic.

After two set-points apiece in the breaker, Federer finally clinched the opener at the third time of asking.

The second set proved to be equally hard fought, but Karlovic was rewarded for a plucky display when he got the solitary break in the eighth game before holding to level the match.

Federer found an extra gear in the deciding set, though, as a run of three straight games saw him take a commanding 4-1 lead before he duly saw out the match and will now attempt to win this tournament for a sixth time.

In the other semi-final, wildcard Borna Coric saw his fine tournament come to an end in a brave 6-4 3-6 6-3 defeat to an in-form Goffin.

Fresh from his shock victory over Rafael Nadal in the quarter-finals, Croatian Coric went toe-to-toe with Goffin in a match in which both players recorded 10 aces.

However, Goffin - who has won 11 straight Tour-level matches - showed his class in the decider.

Coric saw off three match-points, but ultimately 42 unforced errors proved to be his undoing.