Roger Federer remains on course for a sixth Swiss Indoors crown in seven years after defeating French wild card Paul-Henri Mathieu 7-5 6-4.
The top seed and world number one was given a tougher match than anticipated at his hometown event in Basel, but eventually came through to set up a meeting against a rejuvenated Juan Martin del Potro on Sunday.
Federer claimed the all-important break in the 11th game before closing out the set with ease and Mathieu then faulted in the fifth game of the next set to gift it to Federer and the Swiss ace made no mistake in claiming the win.
"I'm very happy to be in this final again," said Federer, who leads the ATP with six trophies this season.
"I've been serving really well. A lot of things have gone my way this week, it's been good so far. The final will be tough, even if I've beaten Del Potro so many times. He's playing well so I'll have to be ready."
Mathieu's compatriot Gasquet was humbled by big-hitting Argentinian Del Potro 6-2 6-2.
The Argentine broke his opponent on five occasions en route to his eighth successive win at the St Jakobsh in just 67 minutes, finishing the match in a flourish with four straight aces.
"If I want to win the title, I can't have that. But overall I'm glad about my level, I'm ready for a fight in the final," said del Potro.
Federer will be firm favourite to retain his crown with an impressive 13-2 career record against Del Potro, though one of the Argentinian's victories came in the 2009 US Open final.
