Raonic wins Brisbane title, reversing 2015 result v Federer

Roger Federer of Switzerland reacts after missing a shot in the men’s final match against Milos Raonic of Canada during the Brisbane International tennis tournament in Brisbane, Australia, Sunday, Jan. 10, 2016.

Azarenka, who was limited to 23 tournaments across the last two seasons because of injuries, was broken once in each set but converted seven of her 11 breakpoint chances against Vinci, who ended Serena Williams’ bid for a true Grand Slam in the US Open semifinals. Raonic double-faulted three times in the fourth game, which came after the Canadian went off-court for a medical time-out, but Federer could not take advantage of his break point.

Federer played at a limited capacity in Brisbane, his only Open lead-up tournament, due to a flu bug that swept through his family and threatened to sideline the event’s biggest drawcard.

This time it was his serve that proved the difference, sending down 14 aces and winning 73% of his first serve points.

“I’ve still got a cough and the throat is a bit weird”, he said.

Tonight Raonic meets local favorite Bernard Tomic in the semifinal, where I think we will see a tightly contested match that may very well be decided by a few tiebreakers. Also, this is Sania’s second victory here after partnering American Bethanie Mattek-Sands all the way to the title in 2013 while Martina was the defending champion, having sealed the crown with German Sabine Lisicki past year. The No. 4 seed won a staggering 93% of his first service points in the opening set.

Milos Raonic got one back on Roger Federer to start the new season. Of those four matches, three of them have gone the full three sets.

“I’m not going to tell you too much, but it was tough in a way”, Federer said of his illness, knowing the Australian Open starts January 18.

The former world number one conceded only two points on serve in the first set and put enormous pressure on Dimitrov, who cracked when serving at 4-5 to hand Federer the opener in 35 minutes.

The Australia Green team can seal a spot in the final against Ukraine with a win over France later Friday.

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

“If you keep doing the right thing every day, I’ve learned, you have a big chance of getting closer to achieving your goal”.

“I’m very excited to be back in the final, it’s special playing Milos again tomorrow”.

“I feel like I’m a better player now, so hopefully I can change around that”.

Their most recent meeting was in November at Indian Wells – another straight sets triumph for the Swiss veteran, but one that has left him wary as he attempts to claim his 89th ATP title.