Federer, Gonzalez reach final

BASEL: Roger Federer squeezed through his toughest test of the week as he fought off Thailand's Paradorn Srichaphan 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7/5) to reach the final of his home Swiss Indoors event on Saturday.   

The world No. 1 had to get past a battling third-set tiebreak against Asia's best player and now faces Chile's Fernando Gonzalez in a rematch of last weekend's final in Madrid.   

Federer stands a victory away from an 11th title this season. Gonzalez powered into his third indoor final this season with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over another Swiss, Stanislas Wawrinka.   

The Chilean has been the iron man of the indoor season, losing finals this month against Ivan Ljubicic in Vienna and going down to Federer for the eighth time in his career last Sunday in Spain.   

Federer, who is keen to win his home event after losing finals here to Thomas Enqvist and Tim Henman, goes into Sunday's final with an 8-0 career lead over Gonzalez.   

Saturday's victory also boosted Gonzalez' chances of qualifying for next month's season-ending Masters Cup in Shanghai, where the last four spots in the eight-man event must be decided over the next eight days.   

Gonzalez becomes the third man this season behind Federer and Rafael Nadal to enter three finals in succession on the tour.