“I played some tough matches (against him) in the last 16 months or so”, Federer said of Raonic.
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“I mean my game can always get better”.
“It’s for every young player an incredible experience to play with probably the greatest of all time”, Thiem said.
“You understand the speeds more and you’re more comfortable”. Raonic racked up 12 aces in downing Pouille in just 77 minutes, a much better performance than in his opening match against Ivan Dodig.
Milos Raonic has stunned top-seed Roger Federer with a straight-sets victory in the final of the Brisbane International. Then, he manhandled Dominic Thiem 6-1, 6-4 in the semifinals, thereby setting up the matchup with Raonic in the final.
After claiming his eighth ATP World Tour title on Sunday, Raonic expressed satisfaction at laying down a marker ahead of this month’s Australian Open.
Federer prevailed 6-4, 6-7 (2-7), 6-4 over Raonic in last year’s decider.
The first set lasted just 22 minutes as a shell-shocked Thiem struggled to match the 17-time Grand Slam champion.
The top-seed at the Brisbane International offered the Australian a reality check after his strong showing at the tournament.
The other semifinal between third-seeded Caroline Wozniacki and fifth-seeded Sloane Stephens was delayed by rain.
Looking at the lines, I figured Čilić and Nishikori were two of the safer favorites in action -however both 2014 US Open finalists were upset in three sets in Brisbane. “Everyone’s gunning for us – we’re the hunted”, Sania said.
Sania and Hingis won five titles last season and their unbeaten streak is the longest since Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci’s 25 in a row in 2012.
“But what I need to do is very clear for myself”, he added. “[It’s the] first tournament of the year, so I’m not that anxious”.
Azarenka won Brisbane in 2009, and hasn’t won any title since 2013.
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. Tomic, who hails from the nearby Gold Coast, powered through the first set before Nishikori fought back to take the second. But Federer responded to get the set back on serve and send it into a tiebreaker.
Roger Federer had to play “Australian Doubles” on Sunday in the final of the Brisbane International – him on one side of the court, and on the other side the doubles team of Milos Raonic and the flu bug the Swiss thought he had put behind him this week.
“(There are) sort of two steps”, he said, “being able to step up and play great for two weeks, which I believe I can definitely do. “I’m just going to get out there and practise a bit more”.
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Murray and Watson needed to win the mixed doubles match being played later Friday and hope that the Australia Green team, which had a 2-0 record in the round-robin part of the tournament, loses to France in a night match.
