Roger Federer will light up Pat Rafter Arena for the first time in 2016 when the defending Brisbane International champion meets German qualifier Tobias Kamke on Thursday night.
The top-seeded Swiss, a winner of 17 grand slam singles crowns, reached the final here in 2014, losing to Lleyton Hewitt before clinching the title last year over Milos Raonic.
After Brisbane, he would go on to add a further five singles crown to his tally in 2015 – Dubai, Istanbul, Halle, Cincinnati and Basel – as well as two runner-up showings at Wimbledon and the US Open.
In the first match on Pat Rafter Arena on Thursday night, former world No.1 Victoria Azarenka will clash with eighth seed Roberta Vinci, the Italian responsible for ending Serena Williams’ bid for a calendar-year grand slam in the semifinals of last year’s US Open.
Azarenka, the Brisbane champion in 2009, has dropped just seven games in her first two matches combined, as she pushes for a return to the top 20.
Germans Angelique Kerber and Andrea Petkovic will play their respective quarterfinals on Pat Rafter Arena on Thursday.
Fourth-seeded Kerber will meet 2013 finalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, while the unseeded Petkovic – a finalist here in 2011 – takes on surprise American qualifier Samantha Crawford.
Big-serving Canadian fourth seed Milos Raonic rounds out the day’s play on Pat Rafter Arena when he takes on Croatian qualifier Ivan Dodig for a place in the quarterfinals.
After reaching last year’s Brisbane final, Raonic went on to reach the quarterfinals at the Australian Open and captured his seventh career title later in the year at St Petersburg.
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