Kei Nishikori set his sights on a Grand Slam title in 2017 after beating Stan Wawrinka in the Brisbane International semi-finals against Grigor Dimitrov, yesterday.
The top two seeds suffered surprise defeats as their preparations for the Australian Open suffered a blow, but for Nishikori and his opponent in the final, Grigor Dimitrov, it was an early marker as both look to get the year off to the perfect start.
Nishikori beat current US Open and three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka in straight sets after Dimitrov had stunned defending champion Raonic with a 7-6 6-2 victory that has filled him with belief for the new season.
The world No 5 has reached one Grand Slam final, losing to Marin Cilic at Flushing Meadow in 2014, but a win in New York against Andy Murray in last year’s quarter-final underlined the potential he is looking to fulfil with a major breakthrough over the next 12 months.
“This one will give me a lot of confidence, and hopefully tomorrow too,” he said after a 7-6, 6-3 success. “The Grand Slam is going to be a big goal for me to play well.
“It was a really tough first set but I really stayed tough until the tie-break, and I got one or two chance in the tiebreak.
“After that, I think I was playing better in the second.”
Earlier in the day, Dimitrov produced one of his finest performances to subdue the world No 3 and top seed Raonic with an emphatic 87-minute victory,
The Bulgarian pinched the first set tie-break and with the Raonic serve faltering he broke twice more in the second set to reach a second Brisbane final—he lost to Andy Murray in 2013—and will face a tough test in Nishikori.
Russian Medvedev came from a set down and saved a match point on his way to a 4-6 7-6 (7/2) 6-2 victory over Israeli Dudi Sela in the tournament’s first semi-final.
Spaniard Bautista Agut then defeated France’s Benoit Paire in more routine fashion, winning 6-3 6-3 in just over an hour.