Federer Breezes in Brisbane Opener

Roger Federer opened up his 2016 campaign with a routine 6-2, 6-1 victory over German qualifier Tobias Kamke on Thursday in Brisbane, Australia. The tournament’s defending champion needed less than an hour to advance to the Brisbane International quarterfinals.

“I’m extremely pleased I was able to win today,” said Federer, who was playing his first match with new coach Ivan Ljubicic. “He’s [Ljubicic] played me a bunch and knows my game very well. He’s now also been a coach [of Milos Raonic] for a couple years, which I thought was important. He’s done very well with Milos, so very excited he’s on the team. Today was our first win together, so that was nice as well.”

Federer’s serve helped lead the way as he won 81 percent of his first serve points and only faced one break point the whole match. On the other side, the Swiss Maestro won more than half (54 percent) of the points on Kamke’s serve and converted on five of his break point chances.

Up next for Federer is Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, who had to come back from a set down to defeat Serb Viktor Troicki 5-7, 7-6(6), 6-2 on Thursday to move through to the final eight.

“I am where I want to be. Then again, tomorrow we’ll see,” Federer said looking ahead to his matchup with Dimitrov. “Grigor’s had a tough grind today, but he’s extremely match tough. I expect him to be fresh again tomorrow. I played him quite aggressive last year and that worked well.”

Frenchman Lucas Pouille upset sixth-seeded Belgian David Goffin on Thursday, hanging on for a 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-3 win to book his spot in the quarterfinals.

With the match tied at a set apiece, Pouille secured a break for a 4-3 lead in the deciding third set, and after consolidating it with a hold, added one more break to close out Goffin.

 He will meet Canadian Milos Raonic in the quarterfinals. Raonic came back from a set down to beat Ivan Dodig 6-7(2), 6-1, 6-4 on Thursday, blasting 17 aces and notching three break points over the final two sets.

The other quarterfinals in Brisbane will feature second-seed Kei Nishikori take on seventh-seed Bernard Tomic, and third-seed Marin Cilic face off with eighth-seed Dominic Thiem.