But Federer, having produced a scintillating display in his semi-final on Saturday, was off-colour here, finishing with 19 unforced errors, compared to 16 winners. He was awarded a first round bye as he is seeded first in the ATP World Tour 250 event and met German Tobias Kamke in the second round who he steam rolled in straight sets 6-2, 6-1.
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Thiem, 22, settled into the match in the second set and took the fight to his 34-year-old opponent, but a lapse in the seventh game saw him drop his serve and Federer easily held on to book a place in the final. “The body is not quite ready, you know, so it’s good to get through without any issues”.
Fourth seeded Canadian Milos Raonic was pushed all the way by Croatian qualifier Ivan Dodig before eventually winning 6-7 (2/7), 6-1, 6-4 in nearly two and a half hours. It’s 52 weeks. It’s every day.
Raonic relied on his big serve to dictate a 6-4, 6-4 win over No. 78-ranked Lucas Pouille.
Women: Final: Victoria Azarenka bt Angelique Kerber 6-3, 6-1.
At the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand, third-seeded Caroline Wozniacki reached the semifinals with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Alexandra Dalgheru.
At this stage 12 months ago, Federer emerged victorious in a thrilling three-set match.
Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza and her Swiss partner Martina Hingis continued their stupendous run by clinching their 25th victory together to enter the final of the Brisbane International Tennis Tournament here today.
SHENZHEN: Agnieszka Radwanska advanced to the semifinals of the Shenzhen Open by beating Wang Qiang of China 6-3, 6-2. Australia won the mixed doubles 3-6, 7-5, 10-5.
“In practice it’s been great – I have been hitting the ball well. Everyone’s gunning for us – we’re the hunted”, Sania said.
“It was a great match, a hard one”. “I thought he played really well against me here past year”.
Azarenka won Brisbane in 2009, and hasnt won any title since 2013.
Canada’s Milos Raonic has described his Brisbane International triumph as proof he’s got his swagger back just eight days out from the Australian Open.
Milos Raonic is the 2016 Brisbane International champion after he beat Roger Federer 6-4, 6-4 in a repeat of last year’s final on Sunday.
Earlier, Australia’s Bernard Tomic showed his improvement with a three-set quarter-final win over Kei Nishikori.
The last time the Serbian failed to reach a tournament final was when he lost in the quarterfinals in last year’s Qatar Open. “I think it was the best match of the week so far, or most consistent maybe”.
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Although Nadal’s game has been much improved since certain points of last season, I still like the Serbian’s odds of capturing the Doha title in straight sets tomorrow. Still, the four matches will serve as good preparation for the Australian Open.
