Top seed atthe Brisbane International, Roger Federer, 33, secured his historic careermilestone, the 1,000th Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) win, bybeating Canadian Milos Raonic in the final.
The Swiss fromBasel, who is regarded by most commentators and players as the greatest tennisplayer of all time, beat the 24 year-old Raonic 6-4, 6-7, (2-7), 6-4 inthe Pat Rafter Arena to earn the 83rd ATP title of his career.
With this historic1,000th ATP match win, the leading Swiss tennis legend now joins anexclusive club and becomes only the third man to achieve this special feat,after American Jimmy Connors who had 1,253 wins and Czech Ivan Lendl with 1,071wins.
The Swiss,who is currently ranked world No. 2 by the ATP, has been in fine form of late, andon his way to the Brisbane final, he dismissed many of his opponents in less than 60 minutes.
Raonic, whoalso made the Brisbane final, is currently ranked world No. 8, and is regarded asa player with one of the strongest serves on the tour; he is Canada’s highest ATPranked male singles' player who helped Canada reach a historic semi-final in 2013. He, too, was in good form recently.
Federer wonthe first set 6-4, and was after Raonic’s powerful serve, which he managed tobreak early in the third game.
He then alsobroke Raonic in the opening game of the second set, only for the Canadian tofight back and level the set at 2-2.
The 24 year-old won the second settie-break by winning seven consecutive points.
After 2hours and 13 minutes Federer won the final set 6-4, and the historic 1,000thcareer win.
TheBrisbane International tournament is regarded as a warm-up for the AustralianOpen, which begins in Melbourne next Monday, on 19th January.
Thiswill be the next stop for the 2015 Brisbane International winner, his team,family and numerous fans. Federer has won the Australian Grand Slam four times; thefirst win in Melbourne came in 2004 when he won over Marat Safin and became theworld No.1 for the first time. His lastwin of the Australian Open was in 2010 when he defeated Andy Murray in thefinal.
