Roger Federer closes on 1,000th career win after Brisbane victory
Top seed Roger Federer moved to within one win of his 1,000th career
victory as he beat Grigor Dimitrov to reach the Brisbane International
final. The 33-year-old beat the Bulgarian 6-2 6-2 in 53 minutes to set
up a final with Canadian Milos Raonic on Sunday. Raonic, 24, beat
Japan’s Kei Nishikori 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-4). If Swiss Federer
goes on to win his 83rd career title, he will become the third man,
after Jimmy Connors and Ivan Lendl, to secure 1,000 ATP wins
The 1,000 club
American Jimmy Connors holds the record for most ATP wins with 1,253,
with Czech Ivan Lendl second on 1,071 victories. |
Players are using the Brisbane tournament as a warm up for the first
Grand Slam of the season - the Australian Open, which starts on 19
January. Federer, the world number two, broke Dimitrov in the opening
game and then three more times as he completed a comfortable victory on
Pat Rafter Arena. It followed an impressive 39-minute victory over
Australian qualifier James Duckworth in the previous round.
Elsewhere, former world number one Venus Williams recovered from a
set and a break down to beat top seed Caroline Wozniacki 2-6 6-3 6-3 in
the final of the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand.
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