Roger Federer looked in great form during the ongoing Brisbane International and the Swiss ace played his best game in the competition during the semi finals against Dominic Thiem to set up a final date with Canada's Milos Raonic on Sunday.
Raonic is no stranger to Federer, who defeated the Canadian in an entertaining Brisbane International final last year as well. The Canadian will have revenge on his mind, but the former world number one, who scored some beautiful points against Thiem in the semi finals, should be a confident player and it will take something special from Raonic to beat the Swiss. Hence, Federer finishing second in the Brisbane International will be considered as an upset.
"I think it was my best match of the tournament (against Thiem)," ATP official website quoted Federer as saying.
"I thought I hit the ball pretty well, but that's usually how it goes. You always play better toward the end. Nobody cares how you played at the beginning, as long as you got there. I'm very excited to be back in the final. It's going to be special playing Milos again tomorrow (Sunday)."
Federer has an incredible head-to-head record against Raonic, who has just defeated him once in 2014 and have suffered nine losses. Federer will be eager to make it 10 and win his first title in 2016.
However, Federer will have to be on top of his game and cannot take the game lightly as Raonic possesses a dangerous big serve, which has the ingredients to pose problems for the Swiss.
"Big serving guys are always just tricky," said Federer .
"I don't know if it's that I don't like to play them — I always embrace the challenge of playing big servers. I have a really good record against them. I usually do a good job of getting the ball back and then finding a way. Sometimes it's worked and sometimes it hasn't. But I have no problems playing against him. Clearly, I respect his game. I think he's made a lot of progress in the past few years."
With the Australian Open 2016 coming up in a few days' time, Federer knows the importance of winning the Brisbane International and taking the confident to the first Grand Slam of the year.
However, Raonic, en route to the finals, have shown some great character and consistency to reach the title-deciding round. The Canadian has risen to the occasion even when the going got tough as was witnessed in the semi finals against Bernard Tomic as the match was relatively tight despite the Canadian winning the match in straight sets with the score reading, 7-6 and 7-6.
Raonic needs to come up with his best game of the competition to win only his second match of his career against Federer.
Where to watch live
Roger Federer vs Milos Raonic Brisbane International Open final is scheduled for 6:30 pm local time (2pm IST, 3:30am ET, 8:30am GMT) start. India viewers can watch the Roger Federer vs Milos Raonic final live on Sony Kix with live streaming on Sonyliv.
The viewers in the US can watch the Roger Federer vs Milos Raonic final live on Tennis TV with live streaming on Tennis Channel Online.
