London: It seems every time Roger Federer steps onto the tennis court these days, there's another milestone within his grasp.
The former top-ranked Swiss star scratched another one off the list on Saturday, reaching his 100th career final by beating David Ferrer of Spain 7-5, 6-3 in the semi-finals of the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals. Federer could add a few more on Sunday, as the win puts him in position to win his 70th title overall and a record sixth at the season-ending tournament for the world's top eight players.
"It's obviously a special occasion for me tomorrow," said Federer, who will face Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who beat Tomas Berdych 6-3, 7-5 in the other semi-final. "Playing my 100th final, possibly winning my 70th, winning my sixth at the World Tour Finals. That would be a record."
Federer - who holds a record 16 Grand Slam titles - is tied with Ivan Lendl and Pete Sampras with five victories at the ATP finals, formerly known as the Masters Cup. A win on Sunday would also tie Lendl's record of 39 match victories in the event.
Federer became just the fifth player to reach 100 finals in the open era, joining Jimmy Connors (163), Lendl (146), John McEnroe (108) and Guillermo Vilas (104).
"I'm shocked every time that I've reached so many finals or won against so many players or whatever record it is," Federer said. "It strikes me and makes me obviously very happy and very proud that I've been able to do it for so many years at the highest of levels."
For added measure, Federer also matched childhood hero Stefan Edberg with 806 career wins to sit tied for sixth on the all-time list.
"Stefan was my idol," Federer said. "So to achieve something that he achieved is obviously very nice. I don't think it matters much, but it's still very nice to get reminded that you equaled your idol's or hero's achievements."
In a tournament where his biggest rivals complained of fatigue after failing to make it out of the group stage, the 30-year-old Federer showed no signs of slowing down as he extended his unbeaten streak to 16 matches after winning titles in Basel and Paris before coming to London.
The victory over Ferrer also means Federer will overtake Andy Murray for the No. 3 spot in the year-end rankings, behind No. 1 Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal.
Djokovic and Nadal were both eliminated after losing two of their round-robin matches this week, and said their minds and bodies just weren't up for top-level tennis following another grueling season. Murray pulled out injured following his opening loss to Ferrer on Monday.
But Federer has played some of his best tennis of the year in London, and while he did not look as sharp against Ferrer as he did in his three group-stage victories, he never faced a break point. He broke the fifth-seeded Spaniard twice in the second set, and converted his second match point with a forehand winner.
Ferrer came within two points of the first set on six different occasions in Federer's service game when the Spaniard led 5-4. But he never earned a break point in a game that went to deuce five times, and Federer finally held when Ferrer sent a backhand passing shot wide. That marked a turning point, as Federer won the next four games as well to take control of the match.
"Obviously it was a key 5-4 game for me," Federer said. "That was a crucial sort of 15, 20 minutes for me. I'm happy I was able to decide the match right there."
Ferrer dropped to 0-12 against Federer. The Spaniard started the week by beating Murray and Djokovic convincingly, but couldn't keep up that level of play less than 16 hours after losing a three-set match against Berdych on Friday.
"Maybe I didn't have really time to relax, but (that) is not the excuse here," Ferrer said. "He played better than me."
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