Federer has had a nasty flu bug since arriving in Brisbane last Sunday and requested a Thursday start from tournament organisers to give him as much time as possible time to get over it.
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For the first time in his four meetings with the world number three, Dimitrov managed to win a set via a tiebreak to force the decider but could not pull off an upset.
Tomic will now shift his attention to the Sydney International, where he is the top seed and has a relatively smooth path to the semis, with his second-round opponent on Wednesday to be either young Australian wildcard Jordan Thompson or Slovakian Martin Klizan. “Body is not quite ready, so it’s good to get through it without any issues”.
Today’s final will be a rematch of last year’s after the huge-serving Raonic edged out local hero Bernard Tomic in two close sets. “You understand the speeds more and you’re more comfortable”.
“It feels great”, Raonic told the ATP’s website after clinching his eighth tour title.
The match was a repeat of the final in the same tournament 12 months ago, when on that occasion Federer claimed victory in three sets, but this time it was Raonic who sealed overall glory and he is now hoping to enjoy a successful 2016.
Raonic hit 13 aces on his way to a 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-5) win in 1hr 47min.
Fourth-seeded Angelique Kerber moved into the women’s final by beating Carla Suarez Navarro 6-2, 6-3.
Both players will next play the year’s first Grand Slam – the Australian Open, which commences on the 18 of January.
Victoria Azarenka of Belarus celebrates with the trophy after winning the Brisbane International Tennis Tournament on Saturday.
The top-seeded Indo-Swiss duo defeated the Slovak-Russian combination of Andreja Klepac and Alla Kudryavtseva 6-3 7-5 to make the summit clash.
But Nishikori responded right away in the second set.
“It’s sort of two steps: being able to step up and play great for two weeks, which I believe I can definitely do”.
“We’re just taking it one match at a time, stay positive, and pick up from where we left off”.
In the Hopman Cup’s 27-year history, host Australia has won it only once, in 1999. “I don’t know if it’s that I don’t like to play them – I always embrace the challenge of playing big servers”.
She has dropped just 10 games en route to the semis, where she’ll meet Samantha Crawford, the No. 142-ranked US qualifier who beat Andrea Pektovic 6-3, 6-0.
Swiss maestro Roger Federer reached his third successive Brisbane International final on Saturday when he crushed Dominic Thiem in a lopsided semifinal.
Tomic powered through the first set before Nishikori fought back to take the second.
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After Novak Djokovic’s impressive start to the 2016 tennis season with Qatar Open title yesterday, many expected Roger Federer to follow the suit in Brisbane and get to a ideal start to the new year.
