Roger Federer and Milos Raonic will be looking to get their 2016 season off to a perfect start and head to the Australian Open on a high by claiming the Brisbane title on Sunday. The match will be a repeat of the 2015 final, won by Federer in three sets.
Strong week from both finalists
Both players have put together a largely untroubled run to the final, both having lost just a solitary set on a tiebreak. Federer's toughest match came in three sets against Grigor Dimitrov, unseeded in Brisbane after a disappointing 2015, but he breezed through the rest of the draw, losing just eight games in total to Tobias Kamke and Dominic Thiem.
Raonic was faced with an in-form Bernard Tomic in the semifinals, an opponent who had eliminated Kei Nishikori the day before, but overcame him in two tiebreak sets to match his run in 2015. Tomic can be a tough opponent on Australian soil, and the Canadian will have been pleased to move past him in straight sets.
Federer will start the favourite on Sunday having won nine of the players' ten meetings, and will hope to claim his 89th title and second in Brisbane. Raonic's big-serving game is not to be underestimated though, and the world number fourteen will be hoping to double his tally of wins against Federer while taking his eighth title of his career.
Both players optimistic about their chances
Federer would go on to say that he knew playing against big servers was always 'complicated' but then admitted that he had a very good 'record' against them.
Raonic had an injury-interrupted 2015, and will want to put that, along with the memory of last year's loss to the same opponent, behind him with victory tomorrow. He was in optimistic mood recalling last year's final, recalling that he had a few 'opportunities' in the third set before claiming that he was a 'better player' now.
Victoria Azarenka was a runaway winner in Saturday's WTA Brisbane final, taking her first title since 2013.