Kerber advances to Brisbane International semifinals

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

epa05091091 Gregor Dimitrov of Bulgaria returns the ball during his match against Viktor Troicki of Serbia on day 5 of the Brisbane International Tennis Tournament in Brisbane, Australia, 07 January 2016.

After being edged out in the first set, Dimitrov led 5-1 in the second-set tie-break, but needed three set points before he finally made it count.

The American, who spent time growing up in China and speaks fluent Mandarin, has yet to drop a set in Brisbane after dispatching another rising talent Belinda Bencic of Switzerland in the second round.

“I’m extremely pleased I was able to win today”, said Federer, who was contesting his first match since Ivan Ljubicic replaced Stefan Edberg as his coach.

“(My) body is not quite ready, so it’s good to get through it without any issues.

By holding off Dimitrov, who is 10 years his junior, Federer set up a meeting with 22-year-old Dominic Thiem, the youngest player in the top 20.

Crawford is playing in just her sixth WTA Tour event and her strong showing at an event which has seen the top seeds succumb to injuries should bring her inside the top 100 for the first time.

In other quarterfinals, Tamira Paszek beat fellow qualifier Kirsten Flipkens 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-3 and Julia Goerges outlasted Nao Hibino 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-4.

In another quarterfinal, American qualifier Samantha Crawford beat Andrea Petkovic of Germany 6-3, 6-0.

Thiem beat third-seeded Marin Cilic 2-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4 and later said he was hoping to play Federer.

Paszek, an Auckland semifinalist in 2008 as a teenager, saved a break point in the final game before finally converting her eighth match point.

Fourth seed Angelique Kerber remains the highest-ranked player in the women’s draw after she beat Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4 6-4.

At the Hopman Cup in Perth, Ukraine qualified for Saturday’s final with singles wins over the Australia Gold team of Jarmila Wolfe and Lleyton Hewitt.

“I think he came over for three days and we trained like ten hours together”.