Roger Federer beats Milos Raonic in Brisbane for 1,000th career win

Roger Federer joined an elite club by claiming his 1,000th career win with a hard-fought victory over Milos Raonic in the final of the Brisbane International.

Only Jimmy Connors and Ivan Lendl had achieved the feat in the open era, and Federer reached the landmark by seeing off a resilient Raonic 6-4, 6-7, 6-4.

The milestone, as well as his overall victory, give Federer added confidence heading into the Australian Open, which starts in Melbourne a week on Monday.

But the world No2 was forced to earn his success, with the Canadian hitting back from a break down in the second set to force a decider before eventually being pipped in a titanic battle that lasted two hours and 13 minutes.

Federer showed flashes of his best in the opening set, with 15 winners and only three unforced errors, as he set out to claim his eighth win in nine matches over Raonic. The No1 seed broke in the third game and was never threatened on serve as he seized control of the final.

It got no better for the 24-year-old Raonic, ranked No8 in the world, as he double-faulted to drop his serve at the beginning of the second set, although the No3 seed did discover his touch and reeled off eight points in a row at one point.

The set went with serve to force a tie-break where again Raonic went on a run, losing the first two points before storming back to win the next seven and take Federer the distance.

Neither player gave an inch in the decider, with both surviving break points to hold serve.

It appeared another tie-break would be needed to settle the encounter but the 33-year-old Federer, at 5-4 ahead, used all his years of experience to force a break-point opportunity before wrapping up victory for his 83rd career title.

Jamie Murray and John Peers claimed their fifth doubles title together, meanwhile, beating Alexandr Dolgopolov and Kei Nishikori in Brisbane.

Murray and his Australian partner clinched their first win of the season –and ended a three-match losing streak in finals – with a 6-3, 7-6 success in little over an hour. It completed a remarkable tournament for the pair, who did not drop a set throughout. “We had a great week,” said Murray. “It’s good to start the year with a title.

“You couldn’t really ask for anything more. It shows each other that we obviously did a lot of hard work in the off-season.

“Right from our first practice, we both felt each other had improved. We played our first match with a lot of confidence and we carried that through the week. We’re really excited to win the tournament here in Brisbane.”