Top seed Roger Federer moved to within one win of his 1,000th career victory as he beat Grigor Dimitrov to reach the Brisbane International final.
The 33-year-old beat the Bulgarian 6-2 6-2 in 53 minutes to set up a final with Canadian Milos Raonic on Sunday.
Raonic, 24, beat Japan’s Kei Nishikori 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-4).
If Swiss Federer goes on to win his 83rd career title, he will become the third man, after Jimmy Connors and Ivan Lendl, to secure 1,000 ATP wins.
The 1,000 club |
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American Jimmy Connors holds the record for most ATP wins with 1,253, with Czech Ivan Lendl second on 1,071 victories. |
Players are using the Brisbane tournament as a warm up for the first Grand Slam of the season – the Australian Open, which starts on 19 January.
Federer, the world number two, broke Dimitrov in the opening game and then three more times as he completed a comfortable victory on Pat Rafter Arena.
It followed an impressive 39-minute victory over Australian qualifier James Duckworth in the previous round.
In the women’s final, top seed Maria Sharapova came from a set down to beat Ana Ivanovic.
The Russian fought back to seal a 6-7 (4/7) 6-3 6-3 victory over the second seed from Serbia.
Elsewhere, former world number one Venus Williams recovered from a set and a break down to beat top seed Caroline Wozniacki 2-6 6-3 6-3 in the final of the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand.