14th ranked Canadian ace Milos Raonic took on old foe Roger Federer at the finals of the Brisbane International in Australia today in a repeat of last year’s final, which saw the same pair face off against each other.
While the Swiss, having won that match, was the reigning champion at Brisbane, today it was Raonic who decided to exact revenge on the World No. 3
Raonic has been described variously by spectators and enthusiasts as a 'servebot’, but today used his strong service to his advantage.
Federer cleaned up young Austrian Dominic Thiem en route to the finals, with Raonic beating Australia’s Bernard Tomic in two tight sets to book his own finals berth. Although he had appeared to struggle slightly against Tomic, today Raonic was on top form as he pulled out some powerful service and precise aces to outfox the Swiss legend.
The former World No. 1 revealed that he had been proud of reaching the finals of the event, and had been dealing with a flu going into the night’s match.
At last year’s final, too, Raonic had given Federer somewhat of a challenge, taking the Greatest of all Time to three closely-fought sets.
The Swiss had looked worried and tired through the match against Raonic, and did not appear to be himself right from the beginning of the match. Raonic stole a march on his opponent and quickly capitalised to break his opponent, who was unable to return the favour.
The victory will bode well for the Canadian, who will now go into next week’s Australian Open on the back of that momentum.
Incidentally, the two are inextricably linked. Croat baseline specialist Ivan Ljubicic, who recently joined Federer’s coaching team following the exit of Stefan Edberg, is the former coach of Raonic and was largely responsible for the Canadian’s quick ascent up the ATP rankings.
Both players will next play the year’s first Grand Slam – the Australian Open, which commences on the 18th of January.
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