No. 4 seed Milos Raonic is into the Brisbane International semi-finals for the second consecutive year after downing 78^th-ranked Lucas Pouille of France 6-4, 6-4 on Friday in Pat Rafter Arena.

A day earlier, after putting the wraps on a three-set comeback against qualifier Ivan Dodig, the Canadian had spoken of his new alignment with coach Carlos Moya, of what he hoped the ‘98 Roland Garros champion might add to his arsenal. The 25-year-old said that with the Spaniard’s help he hoped to mix things up on his serve, come in more and put more mid-court balls away, find ways to open up the court with his forehand.

In other words, he’s looking to be more aggressive.

He put that into practice on Friday, putting pressure on his opponent from the very start. He surrendered just three points on his serve in the 36-minute opening set (20 for 23), a break at 1-all the difference.

Pouille, at 21 the youngest of 10 Frenchmen in the Top 100 of the Emirates ATP Rankings, fell behind early in the second set, too. Raonic registered breaks in the first and seventh games, and wrapped up the match with his 12^th ace of the afternoon. In all, he won 27 of 29 first-serve points (93%).

“I think yesterday I was being aggressive and coming forward,” said Raonic of his win over Dodig. “Today I thought I came forward as well, but I was probably more efficient.”

Up next for Raonic is Bernard Tomic, who upset No. 2 seed Kei Nishikori in three tough sets.

Tomic once said that if he played Nishikori 10 times, he might beat him once, maybe twice. Well, the 18^th-ranked Australian finally broke through on Friday in Brisbane, getting his first win over the Japanese star in three FedEx ATP Head2Heads 6-3, 1-6, 6-3.

With the two-hour upset, the No. 7-seed avenged a loss to Nishikori at this same tournament in the very same round in 2015.

Nine of Tomic’s 14 aces came in the first set alone, but Nishikori managed to level the match in the lopsided second set, capitalising on two of three break-point chances. But Tomic would secure two breaks of his own in the third set at 1-0 and 2-1 to put the match out of reach. In all, he saved eight of 11 break points and won 45 of 62 (72%) first-serve points.

“I didn’t play my best tennis today, but I think he played good tennis, too,” said Nishikori. “He served really well. He saved many important points with his serve. He was running side to side and he got so many balls back, so it was really tough. First tournament of the year, so I’m not that worried.”

Tomic is now 7-32 versus Top-10 competition after snapping Nishikori’s streak of seven straight wins over Australian opponents.

Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Stan Wawrinka and Kei Nishikori came together from around the globe to bring fans a very special message to launch the 2016 ATP World Tour. Watch

Qatar ExxonMobil Open

Djokovic and Nadal visited the Museum of Islamic Art Park for a quick hit on a sand court overlooking the Doha skyline. Watch

Jeremy Chardy took over our ATP social channels on Monday. See more in MyATP

Brisbane International presented by Suncorp

Federer toured Brisbane on the new Citycat transport system ahead of the tournament. Read & Watch

Federer, Radek Stepanek and Bernard Tomic participated in Kids’ Day activities. Watch

Is Federer a re-gifter? The Swiss lets attendees at ‘A Summer Night’ in Brisbane in on a little family secret. Watch

Milos Raonic made a visit to the Treasury Hotel. View Photo

Steve Johnson and Dominic Thiem were taken to McDonald’s “Create Your Taste” on Tennis Central to cook a burger, take photos and sign autographs.

Thiem, John Peers and Ben Mitchell signed autographs at the Nova Stage.

Aircel Chennai Open 

Vasek Pospisil, Santiago Gonzalez, Oliver Marach, Fabrice Martin and Nicholas Monroe showed off their style on the catwalk for the annual Chennai Open fashion show. Martin joked: “Maybe I will start a career as a model now.”

Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Santiago Gonzalez took part in a cocktail mixing contest, making Long Island Iced Tea which was then tested by a jury.

Roberto Bautista-Agut tested his chef skills at a cook-off.

Ramkumar Ramanathan participated in Emirates and FedEx sponsor visits while Wawrinka also visited the Emirates suite. 

Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram continued their quest for the Chennai title with a 7-5, 7-6(5) win over Lukas Rosol and Igor Zelenay on Thursday. The tournament is a meaningful one for Ram, as his parents were born in India and the American captured his maiden ATP World Tour doubles title in Chennai seven years ago (w/ Butorac).

In the bottom half of the draw, second seeds Marcel Granollers and Indian doubles legend Leander Paes were forced to withdraw against Austin Krajicek and Benoit Paire due to Granollers’ illness, giving the American-French duo a free pass into the final four.

Top Seeds Clash In Doha

Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau, the No. 1 team in the Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings, were upended 7-6(5), 6-2 by fourth seeds Philipp Petzschner and Alexander Peya. Facing the German-Austrian tandem in the final will be third-seeded Spaniards Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez, who needed a Match Tie-break to overcome Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares 3-6, 6-3, 10-5.

Home Favourites Felled In Brisbane

No. 4 seeds Dominic Inglot and Robert Lindstedt ended the run of Aussie wild cards Matt Reid and John-Patrick Smith 7-6(0), 6-2. The locals broke serve in the opening game of the match, but dropped serve while serving for the first set and were unable to make further inroads against the British-Swedish team. The winners will face Finn Henri Kontinen and Aussie John Peers in the semi-finals.

Rafael Nadal will meet Ilya Marchenko for a place in the Qatar ExxonMobil Open final on Friday after the second seed came through a three-set battle.

Nadal, the 2014 champion, converted five of his 10 break point opportunities in a 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 victory over No. 79-ranked Andrey Kuznetsov in a two-hour and eight-minute encounter.

“Kuznetsov played some amazing shots, so it was difficult to control the match,” Nadal said. “It’s true that I missed my serve more than I wanted to, but I really only played one bad game, at 4-3 in the second set. His returns were amazing and his level was very high. Fortunately I played a great third set, with a lot of intensity.”

Marchenko withstood 12 aces to beat seventh seed Jeremy Chardy 6-3, 7-6(3) in one hour and 35 minutes for a place in his third ATP World Tour semi-finals. Marchenko, who beat World No. 7 David Ferrer, is through to the last four of a tour-level event for the first time since 2010 St. Petersburg (l. to Kukushkin).

Afterwards Marchenko admitted, “The most important match after you beat David is the next one. It’s really difficult to handle the stress. Honestly, it was bad night for me. I couldn’t sleep much.”

Joining Nadal and Marchenko in the semi-finals is World No. 1 Novak Djokovic, who was made to work against Leonardo Mayer before winning 6-3, 7-5. The Argentine broke the Djokovic serve in the first game of the second set and served for it at 5-4, but the Serb swept the last four games of the match to advance. He will face Tomas Berdych, who defeated Kyle Edmund 6-3, 6-2, in the semi-finals.

“[Mayer] started better in both the first and second sets,” Djokovic said. “He was going for his shots and he’s a very complete player. The second set was close. It could have gone either way, but I stayed tough and fought through it. It was a good test and I’m glad to get through in straight sets.”

Benoit Paire, the 2015 ATP Comeback Player Of The Year, kicked off his 2016 campaign with a 7-5, 7-5 win over Lukas Rosol at the Aircel Chennai Open on Thursday. The third seed secured the victory in one hour, 24 minutes and improved to 2-1 in the FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry against the hard-hitting Czech.

“I was moving well, which is very important because Rosol hits the ball very flat and I have to cover the court against him,” said Paire, who made the semi-finals in 2013. “My backhand is one of my best shots and I did a good job of varying it today.”

Though Paire and Rosol combined for 12 aces, the match was decided by the return of serve. The Czech broke three times on eight occasions, but the Frenchman went five for 13 to find the winning margin in both sets. He moved on despite only landing 50 per cent of first serves and winning 44 per cent of second serve points.

Next up for Paire, No. 19 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, is No. 157 Thomas Fabbiano, who survived 14 aces to upset sixth seed Gilles Muller 6-4, 7-5 in 77 minutes. The 26-year-old Italian now has consecutive ATP World Tour match wins after an eight-year drought and will take part in his first tour-level quarter-final.

Also in second round action, Indian wild card Ramkumar Ramanathan was slated to meet second seed Kevin Anderson, but saw the latter pull out with a left knee injury before their match. Anderson was replaced by lucky loser Alexander Kudryavtsev, ranked No. 164.

Ramanathan made the most of his opportunity, moving into the quarter-finals with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 win in just under two hours. His next opponent will be Britain’s Aljaz Bedene, who needed over two hours to complete a 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 comeback against Luca Vanni.

Roger Federer began his 2016 ATP World Tour season on Thursday night by beating qualifier Tobias Kamke 6-2, 6-1 in just 55 minutes at the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp.

Top seed Federer, who beat Milos Raonic in last year’s final, is attempting to capture his 89th tour-level title this week. He is also bidding to lift his ninth trophy in the month of January (also 2002 Sydney, 2005-06, ’11 Doha, 2006-07, ’10 Australian Open and 2015 Brisbane).

Federer has a 3-0 FedEx ATP Head2Head record against his quarter-final opponent, Grigor Dimitrov, who defeated Viktor Troicki earlier in the day. Federer beat Dimitrov in last year’s semi-finals.

More to follow…