Top seed Roger Federer takes on young and impressive Croat, Borna Coric in the men's singles final of Gerry Weber Open, an ATP 500 grass-court tournament in Halle on Sunday, June 24.
When does the Halle Open final start and how to watch it live
The much-anticipated final between Federer and Coric will start at 1 pm local time, 4:30 pm IST and 12 pm BST.
Sony ESPN and Sony ESPN HD will provide live television coverage of the match in India. The live stream of the match will be available on Sony Liv.
Is Federer the favourite to win the Gerry Weber Open?
Of course. The defending champion, chasing his 99th tour-level title, heads into the final as the overwhelming favourite.
The 36-year-old has never won two grass-court tournaments in the lead-up to Wimbledon in a single season before. However, after winning the Stuttgart Open last week, he is gearing up to create history.
Federer reached the final in Halle after fending off a tricky threat from American qualifier Denis Kudla (7-6(1), 7-5) in the semi-final on Saturday.
Hitting 12 aces and winning 84 percent of points on first-serve, the veteran was sending warning signals to the chasing pack ahead of his much-anticipated Wimbledon title defence.
Federer has stitched a 20-match winning run that dates back to last year. The 20-time Grand Slam champion has dropped only one set in what has been a comfortable road to the final at Halle Open.
The world number one seems to be elated with the way he has started the grass-court season, especially after having missed the whole of clay-court swing for the second successive year.
"I'm very happy. I've never played back-to-back finals on grass like this in events before Wimbledon. So, this is a first for me. I'm very happy having won Stuttgart and, now, making another final here in Halle is great. I would have taken that any day a month ago," Federer was quoted as saying by ATP's official website.
Can Coric test the Swiss great?
On the other hand, Coric reached his maiden ATP 500 final after his semi-final opponent, Roberto Bautista Agut withdrew just after completion of five games with an injury.
The 21-year-old, who has been impressive in the ongoing season, has been in fine form in Halle, edging out the likes of world number three Alexander Zverev as early as in the first round.
Coric has not managed to beat Federer in their two head-to-head career meetings. However, he came close to causing an upset at Indian Wells earlier this year as he won the first of a three-set semi-final against the Swiss great.
Will try to enjoy the final: Coric
The 34th-ranked Croat conceded he is not hopeful of winning the title on Sunday but insisted he will enjoy the tie against Federer.
"I'm going to enjoy it. I didn't expect this at the beginning of the week. Today I was a little bit lucky. I'm sorry for Roberto. But I can rest a little bit now which is good," Coric said.
"I don't think my chances are really big but I'm going to go out there and I'm going to try to win. That's for sure."
Halle Open 2018: Tennis live stream and global TV listings
- Worldwide live stream: Tennis TV
- UK: ky Sports Arena; Live stream: Sky Go
- USA - ESPN International; Live stream: Tennis Channel
- Germany - Sky DE
- Canada - RDS
- Cyprus - Cyta Vision
- Denmark - TV3 Sport
- Hong Kong - PCCW
- Japan - Gaora, TV Asahi
- South Africa - SuperSport
