Roger Federer and Grigor Dimitrov will square off in a blockbuster quarterfinal showdown on Friday in Brisbane. Marin Cilic and Dominic Thiem are also aiming for a place in the last four.
(1) Roger Federer vs. Grigor Dimitrov
Federer and Dimitrov will be facing each other for the fourth time in their careers and for the first time since this same Brisbane International event last season when they meet again on Friday during quarterfinal action. All three of their previous encounters have gone Federer’s way and he is 6-0 in total sets against Dimitrov. Their three most recent sets all resulted in 6-2 scorelines, with the Swiss finishing off Dimitrov at the 2014 Basel tournament before dominating last year Down Under.
His opening match in 2016 saw Federer get off to a roaring start on Thursday night, when he hammered qualifier Tobias Kamke 6-2, 6-1 in 55 minutes. The 34-year-old is aiming for a second straight title in Brisbane and a third final in as many appearances. Dimitrov has–crucially–begun this year in strong form on the heels of a borderline disastrous 2015 campaign. The 28th-ranked Bulgarian took out No. 5 seed Gilles Simon in round one before storming back from a set and a break down to overcome Viktor Troicki 5-7, 7-6(6), 6-2 on Thursday afternoon. Unfortunately for Dimitrov, Federer’s opening performance suggests more of the same in this head-to-head series will continue.
Pick: Federer in 2 with no tiebreakers
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(3) Marin Cilic vs. (8) Dominic Thiem
Cilic missed the entire Australian summer in 2015 because of an arm injury. In fact, he did not play until the Indian Wells Masters in March and did not win a match until the clay-court swing. Despite all of that, Cilic finished the season at No. 13 in the world thanks in part to a quarterfinal performance at Wimbledon and a semifinal showing at the U.S. Open. The Croat opened on Wednesday in Brisbane with a 7-5, 7-6(3) victory over familiar foe Hyeon Chung.
Up next for Cilic is a first-ever meeting with Thiem, who has advanced this week with defeats of James Duckworth and Denis Kudla. The 20th-ranked Austrian fought past Duckworth 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 before picking up the pace to rout Kudla 6-3, 6-2 on Wednesday. Thiem served at 73 percent and won 85 percent of his first-serve points against the American. That kind of serving combine with his ability to mix up spins and paces between his forehand and backhand should prevent Cilic from getting into a rhythm.
Pick: Thiem in 3
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who ya got?
Can’t be too Scher about Grigor — waiting for a Zinger of a win. Fed in 2.
Like your twitter, Ricky!
Cilic in 3. Marin’s anticipating a tough match.
Team Thiem
Seriously, impressed Ricky.
Nostradimonus
Fed in two, no TBs, losing 5-7 games.
Cilic in three.
Do you?
Roger. Easy.
I’ll take fed with one breaker in straights and Cilic in 3
In the meantime Tomic is playing very well, beats Kei in 3 sets.
Tomic hits with such easy power and slices the ball well. He’s finally being serious about his tennis career now, clearly putting in the efforts. Perhaps he feels the threat of Kygrios.
I hope he finally can win something big this year, he and Raonic are the two best hope of his gen when Dimi keeps disappointing. Kei is too light weight and his chances are on the quick surfaces, perhaps the USO.
“Perhaps he feels the threat of Kygrios.”
This. Missed the match, but had a feeling Tomic might pull it off. Not good for Kei, though. Must have been a great performance by Bernie!
This might be the moment Baby Fed gets a set! Breaks in 2nd set!!
Beating Federer would Scher help!
Oh deary me, Dimi choked serving for set.
Detecting nerves from Fed. Make that nerves from both! But Grigor gets set 7-4 in TB!!
Grigor is too skittish. He had momentum at the beginning of the decider. This is bad for him. So many chances down the drain…
Dimi’s gen does quite badly vs Fedal. So far only Kei and Raonic managed a win over Fed and Rafa ( Kei twice over Fed I think). Kei and Raonic did quite badly vs Rafa actually and only managed to beat Rafa in 2015 when Rafa was in poor form.
There’s really not much to talk about them and Dimi failing to get a win over either Fed or Rafa is the norm, no matter how hard he tries.
Dimi found it so difficult to return Fed’s serve… He got do many free points even on his second serve…Fed tends to impllement S&V game more often and it pays off…
I felt Cilic would end up losing to Thiem…more that I watch the Austrian more I become fond of his game..,great result for him…
Huge by Thiem. Good pick by Ricky.