Federer looks to Brisbane as 2016 launch-pad
BRISBANE: Roger Federer said on Saturday he was looking at defending his Brisbane International title as a launchpad to the new season.
The 17-time Swiss grand slam champion arrived in Australia Saturday with Sunday’s Brisbane International tournament as his lead-up to this month’s Australian Open in Melbourne.
Federer, 34, who won six titles including Brisbane last year and reached the final of both Wimbledon and the US Open, is up against world No 8 Kei Nishikori, No 14 Milos Raonic and No.28 Grigor Dimitrov in Brisbane this time.
“The likes of Nishikori, Raonic and Dimitrov want to move now finally into the top four or five and for us, the top guys, it’s about hanging on where we are right now,” Federer told reporters. “I’ve been playing really well for over one and a half years - ever since I came back from my back problems in 2013.” DJOKOVIC BEGINS SEASON IN QATAR
DOHA: Six weeks after completing one of the greatest seasons in tennis history, Novak Djokovic begins his 2016 campaign and warm-up for his Australian Open defence in Qatar.
The Serbian heads a strong field at the Qatar Open starting in Doha on Monday, which also includes Rafael Nadal, Tomas Berdych and defending champion David Ferrer.
All eyes though, at least at the start, will be on Djokovic to see if he can maintain the exceptional heights he achieved last year and to gauge his form ahead of the first Grand Slam of the year, which begins in Melbourne on January 18.
SOMDEV, SAKETH ADVANCE IN CHENNAI CHENNAI: Country’s top singles players Somdev Devvarman and Saketh Myneni registered smooth wins to move to the second round of the ATP Chennai Open qualifying event, here on Saturday.
Sixth seed Somdev defeated N Vijay Sundar Prashanth with a comfortable 6-2 6-3 scoreline, avenging his Pune Challenger defeat against local lad while fifth seed Myneni saw off the challenge of Sanam Singh 6-2 6-4. Also moving to the next round was N Sriram Balaji, who knocked out seventh seed Hans Podlipnik-castillo 6-2 6-4.
However, campaigns of Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Prajnesh Gunneswaran were over in the first round itself.
AUCKLAND DRAW KIND FOR VENUS WILLIAMS WELLINGTON: Former world number one Venus Williams begins finetuning for the Australian Open against a player barely half her age when the WTA Auckland Classic begins on Monday.
Williams, the defending Auckland champion, found herself on the right side of the draw released on Saturday with a firstround match against 18-year-old Russian Daria Kasatkina.