Roger Federer
Roger Federer of Switzerland celebrates after defeating Dominic Thiem of Austria in their semi-final match at the Brisbane International Tennis Tournament in Brisbane, January 9, 2016. REUTERS/Dave Hunt/AAP

Roger Federer continued his inexorable quest towards a second Brisbane International title with an easy win over Dominic Thiem 6-1 6-4 on Pat Rafter Arena on Saturday, setting up a rematch of last year’s finals with Milos Raonic, who beat local boy Bernard Tomic 7-6(5) 7-6(5) earlier in the day.

Federer’s victory against Thiem marked the third consecutive time that the Swiss will contest for the Brisbane trophy. He also reached the finals in 2014, but lost to Lleyton Hewitt in a tight three-setter 6-1 4-6 6-3.

The defending champion said in an interview as quoted by the official website of men’s professional tennis that his quick-fire semifinals match with the Austrian was the best match he had in this year’s edition of the tournament. Federer fired 12 winners and committed only 10 unforced errors against Thiem. Federer added that he is “very excited” to play Raonic in the finals again.

“I have no problems playing against him,” Federer, who has a 9-1 head-to-head record against Raonic said of his match-up with the big-serving Canadian. “Clearly, I respect his game, I think he’s made a lot of progress in the past few years.”

The only time that Raonic had got the better of the Swiss tennis maestro was in the quarterfinals of the 2015 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament in Paris when he beat Federer in straight sets 7-6(5) 7-5.

The 25-year-old Canadian earlier defeated Tomic, who entered the Brisbane event with hopes to reach the semifinals again to achieve his goal of a top-16 Australian Open seeding, also on Pat Rafter Arena to advance in the finals for the second straight time. Raonic improved his head-to-head record 2-0 against Tomic, whose best appearance came in 2014 when he reached the semifinals against eventual champion Andy Murray.

Federer and Raonic are set to clash at 7 p.m. local time on Saturday on Pat Rafter Arena. The men’s doubles finals match featuring Australian wild cards James Duckworth and Chris Guccione versus second seed Henri Kontinen and John Peers will also take place on Pat Rafter Arena.

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