Milos Raonic was delighted to put last year’s injury troubles behind him with a 6-4 6-4 victory over Roger Federer to win the Brisbane International.
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But the 17-time Grand Slam champion dug deep in the third, breaking Dimitrov in the fifth game and holding on to win in two hours, seven minutes.
Federer had been improving every round after starting the tournament with a slight illness but was no match for Raonic, who served powerfully and came to the net at every opportunity.
He set up a quarterfinal against Lucas Pouille, who upset sixth-seeded David Goffin 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-3.
Kerber, the fourth seed, will play either twice Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka or American qualifier Samantha Crawford in the final.
Raonic looked poised for a major push upwards in 2015 when he started the year ranked world no. 8 after making a maiden Grand Slam semifinal in 2014, and that impression was underlined with his run to the Brisbane final (defeating Kei Nishikori on the way) followed by a quarterfinal finish at the Australian Open and semifinal appearances in Rotterdam and Indian Wells.
“The body is not quite ready, you know, so it’s good to get through it without any issues”, he said. This was only the second time in his career that Raonic was able to beat the Swiss Maestro, but he made it on a day when it counted.
The match was on serve until the ninth game when Federer served a double-fault to give Raonic a breakpoint chance and then netted a forehand.
ATP & WTA Brisbane International: Men’s singles (semifinals): Milos Raonic bt Bernard Tomic 7-6(5), 7-6(5); Roger Federer bt Dominic Thiem 6-1, 6-4.
“I’m very proud of the achievement and this particular stat, but I try not to think about what would happen if I would lose and not get to the final”, Djokovic said.
Raonic pushed Federer in three close sets previous year and, although he said he was playing better now than he was 12 months ago, he conceded facing the Swiss great was always hard.
Nadal was playing in his 99th career final.
“I really thought I hit the ball very well”, the evergreen 34-year-old, lathered in sweat from the muggy Brisbane heat, said in a courtside interview.
After two seasons interrupted by injuries, she’s regaining form while numerous leading women are dealing with injuries in the run-up to the Australian Open which starts in 10 days. For the tournament, Raonic held serve in 46 of 47 games. The match also witnessed Raonic matching Federer in ground strokes from the baseline, consistently.
The Australia Green team can seal a spot in the final against Ukraine with a win over France late Friday, and Nick Kyrgios gave the home team a 1-0 lead when he beat Kenny De Schepper 6-4, 6-4.
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After wasting a chance to serve out the second set in a nervous 10th game, Dimitrov dominated the tiebreaker and forced a decider.
