Federer, Raonic to meet again in Brisbane final
For the second straight year, the Brisbane International final will be played between Roger Federer and Milos Raonic.
Roger Federer and Milos Raonic will meet in the Brisbane International final for the second straight year after wins on Saturday.
Federer, last year's champion and runner-up in 2014, was the more comfortable of the pair in the semi-finals as he claimed a 6-1 6-4 win over Dominic Thiem.
The Swiss 17-time grand slam winner, who has been battling fitness and health issues in Queensland, was dominant early as he produced his best performance of the tournament so far.
Federer rolled out to a 5-0 lead by breaking twice before Thiem got on the board, but the Austrian was broken in the opening game of the second.
Thiem responded immediately, only to drop serve in the seventh game as Federer cruised to victory to each his 136th ATP World Tour final.
Standing between him and an 89th title is Raonic, who edged past Australian Bernard Tomic 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-5).
Neither player was able to break serve during the battle of one hour, 47 minutes.
Raonic pulled clear in the tie-breaks – leading 5-1 in both – but saw Tomic battle back before eventually securing his win.
The Canadian will be aiming to win his eighth career title when he meets Federer on Sunday.