Federer battles as Azarenka sails into final

Roger Federer overcame a lingering sickness to hold off Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-4 on Friday and take his title defence into the semifinals at the Brisbane International.

Canada’s Milos Raonic has upset a misfiring Roger Federer in straight sets to claim the Brisbane International title and send an ominous message ahead of the Australian Open.

In the end Raonic and the illness were too much for the 34-year-old, who fell in the final 6-4, 6-4 to the big-serving Canadian.

But Federer was unable to take advantage and games remained on serve until the seventh game, when Federer let a 30-0 lead slip to give Raonic a break point.

He’s got a good base to work off, starting with Raonic’s eighth career title and only his second win in 11 matches against Federer.

A confident Milos Raonic felt he sent a message to his Australian Open rivals by securing the Brisbane International title on Sunday.

Federer cleaned up young Austrian Dominic Thiem en route to the finals, with Raonic beating Australia’s Bernard Tomic in two tight sets to book his own finals berth.

“He can do a lot of things differently”, Raonic said.

In Auckland, New Zealand, Julia Goerges reached her sixth WTA final and her first in four years when she beat qualifier Tamira Paszek 6-4, 6-2 in the ASB Classic semifinals.

“I’m really sorry that I can’t play in Sydney this week”. “It was very special because it was a final… plus, Rod Laver and Roy Emerson were on the court to hand me the trophy and be in the picture with me and the number 1,000”. But she dropped just 17 games in five matches – equaling Serena Williams’ record for fewest games conceded by a victor at the tournament.

Top-ranked Williams was on the injured list this week, restricted to one set at the Hopman Cup in Perth because of inflammation in her left knee, while No. 2 Simona Halep and 2015 champion Maria Sharapova withdrew from the Brisbane tournament before playing a match and No. 3-ranked Garbine Muguruza retired with injury in her opening match. “Last year, unfortunately, I lost very comfortably to Kei, and today played very different”. It’s been a rocky last couple of days and I don’t quite know what to expect quite yet.

“I was a bit sick but we made it to the final”. Will Federer get the win once more?

“It feels great considering how the past nine months have been”.

“It was just not happening”.

With the Australian Open creeping into view, this clash was a brilliant chance for the Canadian to prove he could mix it with the elite guys.

He achieved the milestone in the final here past year, when he beat Milos Raonic and shared the podium with some of the players he revered from a previous era.