Seventh seed Grigor Dimitrov continued his stellar record against top seed and defending champion Milos Raonic on Saturday at the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp, winning the last five games of their semi-final battle to score a 7-6(7), 6-2 upset win. 

“Milos is one of the biggest servers out there. I knew what to expect, so I just had to execute it the right way,” said Dimitrov. “I played a quite solid game to break him [in the second set] and after that, I was just solid overall. I was reading his serve pretty well after that. From then on, it was just smooth sailing.”

This is Dimitrov’s third consecutive win against Raonic, allowing him to improve his record in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series to 3-1.

Standing between Dimitrov and the title is third seed Kei Nishikori, who defeated second seed Stan Wawrinka earlier in the day. The Japanese star leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry with Dimitrov 3-0, including a quarter-final win last July at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in Toronto.

“We played a pretty close match last year. I felt like I had my chance and my momentum,” said Dimitrov. “I’m not playing anything next week, so I’m going to get out there and leave it all on the court.”

Although Raonic said he was disappointed by the loss, he remains confident about being able to regroup and continue raising his level for the Australian Open.

“I feel very good about it. I stepped up this week and did quite a few very good things. It’s about cleaning things up and now I have some time to do that,” said Raonic. “I feel like I’ve done a lot of things to be a much better player. If I can avoid that hiccup, I can have a very, very good time in Melbourne.”

Neither Raonic or Dimitrov faced a break point on serve in the opening set. In the tie-break, Dimitrov saved a set point on his serve at 5/6, forcing Raonic to do the same down 6/7. But the Bulgarian grabbed the crucial mini-break at 7/7 and made good on his second set point chance.

Dimitrov finally earned the first break of the match to lead 3-2 in the second set and it appeared to break Raonic’s spirits. The seventh seed began rifling winners at will, taking 14 of the last 18 points in the match to secure the victory.

Kei Nishikori is making a statement with his tennis at the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp. The third seed didn’t drop serve on Saturday in scoring a 7-(3), 6-3 upset over second seed Stan Wawrinka.

Nishikori will now play the winner of the semi-final between top seed Milos Raonic and seventh seed Grigor Dimitrov. He has dominated his FedEx ATP Head2Head with Dimitrov 3-0, including a win last August at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in Toronto. Nishikori also leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry with Raonic 5-2, but the Canadian prevailed in a third-set tie-break when they faced off in the 2015 Brisbane semi-finals.

Wawrinka and Nishikori traded service holds in the opening set to force a tie-break, but it was the Japanese star who grabbed the first burst of momentum. Nishikori went on a five-point run to take a 6/2 lead and grabbed the early lead on his second set point opportunity.

The third seed finally earned the first break of the match to lead Wawrinka 3-1 in the second set, but the Swiss player fought back by immediately breaking back in the next game. Nishikori calmly responded with a second consecutive break of Wawrinka and held the lead this time, easily closing out the match on serve at his first chance.

This is Nishikori’s second straight victory over Wawrinka, with the previous win coming last November at the ATP Finals. He evened his FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry with Wawrinka to 4-4.

After 15 months away from the ATP World Tour due to injury, Thanasi Kokkinakis is wasting no time making headlines at the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp.

Competing in his first tournament back, Kokkinakis and fellow Australian Jordan Thompson advanced to the doubles final on Saturday. The wild card pairing delighted the home crowd by winning nine of the final 10 games in a convincing 6-3, 6-1 win over fourth seeds Daniel Nestor/Edouard Roger-Vasselin.

“We weren’t originally going to play together in this tournament, but a couple of injuries happened and we ended up teaming together,” said Kokkinakis. “Obviously it worked out.”

Kokkinakis underwent shoulder surgery in December 2015, then tore a pectoral muscle leading into the US Open and finished his unfortunate 2016 with a groin injury. But after all of the frustration dealing with his health, he said producing top form this week is vindication of his efforts.

“It’s unbelievable. Fifteen months off with injury, just missing [tennis] and rehabbing every day. It’s been a brutal time out,” said Kokkinakis. “I wasn’t quite ready to play singles, but thought I’d put my name in the hat for doubles and here we are in the final.”

This is the first ATP World Tour final of any kind for Kokkinakis or Thompson. Kokkinakis reached the Brisbane doubles semi-finals in 2015 (w/Dimitrov), while Thompson won four ATP Challenger Tour doubles titles in 2016.

The Aussie duo will now play Gilles Muller/Sam Querrey for the title.

“Sam beat Novak at Wimbledon this past year. They’re big servers, both have big games,” said Thompson. “They’re monsters out there.”

Meanwhile, Kokkinakis and Thompson will have to put their friendship aside next week at the Apia International Sydney. The duo are scheduled to square off in opening round singles action, which will mark Kokkinakis’ first ATP World Tour singles match since October 2015 in Valencia. 

The new “Home of American Tennis” has arrived.

The United States Tennis Association officially opened its USTA National Campus on Monday in Lake Nona, Fla., and held a ceremonial “First Serve” on Thursday. Former World No. 1 Jim Courier, former world No. 4 James Blake and former Top 20 doubles player Eric Butorac, who began serving last October as the USTA’s Director of Professional Tennis Operations and Player Relations, were on hand for the ceremony.

“A lot of people in America don’t understand that public parks and courts are available. Tennis isn’t as inaccessible as some might think it to be,” said Courier to the Orlando Sentinel. “It’s not an elitist sport. There are opportunities for you to come play at a facility like this.”

The $60 million, 64-acre facility includes 100 tennis courts, the Adidas Performance Center for the USTA Player Development programme, a Collegiate Area to host dual college matches, and the Nemours Family Zone with both 36-foot and 60-foot courts to introduce young players to the sport. In addition, all 84 tournament courts will feature live streaming.

“The way they’ve done this and the way they structured the facility is just unbelievable,” said Blake.

Several ATP World Tour players trained at the facility prior to its official opening, including Bob Bryan, Mike Bryan and #NextGenATP star Frances Tiafoe.