An air of the unexpected naturally surrounds a first-time showdown between two players on tour, but defending champion Roger Federer will by no means be in the dark on rising Austrian Dominic Thiem’s capabilities when the pair squares off tonight.
The 34-year-old Swiss, a 17-time grand slam champion and the oldest member of the world’s top 20, meets the youngest to have finished 2015 in this elite group – a 22-year-old who captured his first three tour titles last season.
Impressed by the young charge, Federer invited Thiem across the border last year to practise in Switzerland.
“I think he came over for three days and we trained like 10 hours together. Good guy, hits a big ball,” Federer said.
“We know each other. I think he’s got a great, big backhand.
“Sometimes it’s nice just to play with somebody who is really excited and pumped up and it’s a big deal for them.
“For me it’s exciting too, because I wish also I could have played with top guys when I was younger. I got the opportunity a couple times. Not very often.”
Federer did it the hard way to reach his third straight Brisbane semifinal last night, prevailing in three sets against the free-swinging Grigor Dimitrov, while Thiem, too, was stretched all the way in his upset of No.3 seed Marin Cilic.
Federer’s title run in Brisbane last year was the first of six for the year –while Thiem went on a tear winning the aforementioned trio of titles.
In the first men’s singles semifinal of the day, 25-year-old Bernard Tomic will ride the support of his home crowd against last year’s beaten finalist Milos Raonic.
The seventh-seeded Tomic scored his first victory in three attempts over Japanese No.2 seed Kei Nishikori in yesterday’s quarterfinals, and will rely on having to do the same against the big-serving Canadian, a straight-sets winner the only prior time they played in Tokyo two years ago.
Fourth seed Raonic cracked 12 aces on his way past Frenchman Lucas Pouille in his quarterfinal and will rely heavily on his chief weapon to deny the Australian rhythm. Both players claimed one title in 2015.
In men’s doubles semifinals, fourth seeds Brit Dominic Inglot and Swede Robert Lindstedt take on No.2 seeds, Australian John Peers and Finland’s Henri Kontinen, while the unseeded pairing of Dimitrov and Nishikori meet Australian wildcards James Duckworth and Chris Guccione.