By Chris Oddo | Friday, January 9, 2015
Career win No. 999 was like a lot of Roger Federer’s first 998: Precision, polish and power. Federer easily took down Grigor Dimitrov for the third time in three career meetings, 6-2, 6-2, in 53 minutes to reach his second consecutive final at Brisbane.
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Picking up where he left off during his 39-minute thrashing of Aussie James Duckworth in the quarterfinals, Federer was crisp from start to finish, saving all four break points (most late after the match had been decided) and dropping only six of 33 first-serve points.
The victory leaves Federer just one win shy of the ATP’s 1,000-win club, and he’ll get his chance to join Jimmy Connors (1,253) and Ivan Lendl (1,071) on Sunday when he faces Milos Raonic in the final.
Raonic edged past Kei Nishikori in a tense battle, 6-7(4), 7-6(4), 7-6(4), to reach his 12th career ATP final. Raonic improved his career mark to 2-4 against Nishikori. The pair have split their last four meetings, and played seven tiebreakers in their last four matches.
According to Greg Sharko of the ATP Tour, Raonic has now won his last seven deciding-set tiebreakers dating back to 2013.
Raonic owns a 1-7 record against Federer, but he did score a big victory over the 17-time Grand Slam champion in the quarterfinals at the Paris Masters last October.
As for Federer, he will bid for his 83rd title on Sunday in his second consecutive final at Brisbane. Last year he was upset by Lleyton Hewitt in the final.
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