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When John Millman analyses this match, he will rue what happened in the second set. At one stage of the match, he had 6-4 3-1 40-15. He almost had Roger Federer on the ropes.
But that is why Federer is so good, and is regarded as one of the greats. He came back into the match, won four straight games, and took the second set.
Federer also won back the momentum and continued that in the third set. Millman tried to hold on, and continued to hold serve, but the class of Federer shone through in the end.
The Aussie ran out of puff in the end and Federer showed his experience and class to win the match. The world number 2 was rusty tonight. He was also tired, as he admitted in his post-match conference.
He was lucky to win tonight and if Millman won he would have deserved the win. Tonight’s win is number 997 for Federer.
Tomorrow he will try to win number 998 against James Duckworth. He will face another Australian who won through to his first ever quarter final at an ATP event.
Millman would have won plenty of fans tonight. He also gained plenty of respect from Federer. This form can move him into the top 100 and beyond.
I pray he can get a full season in and is fit throughout. If he does anything is possible.
He should also wrap up a wildcard into the Australian Open.
While he didn’t win tonight, Millman certainly showed he belonged in the tour tonight.
FINAL SCORE
Federer 4 6 5
Millman 6 4 3
For the second straight year, Roger Federer starts his ATP season at the Brisbane International, as he looks to go one better than his runner-up result in 2014. Join The Roar for a live blog the match from around 9:00pm AEDT.
Last year in the final, Federer played Australian Lleyton Hewitt in the decider. Hewitt – who defeated the Fed Express – was one of two Australians that faced him during the 2014 tournament.
Tonight he faces another Australian, who was born and raised in the same city as the event.
Queenslander, John Millman, gets his chance to shine as he faces the world number two, and arguably the greatest to have ever played the sport, under lights on Pat Rafter Arena.
This isn’t the first time the Australian has faced a top ranked player in Brisbane. In 2013, Millman battled Andy Murray at the Brisbane International, and won a set against the two-time Grand Slam champion.
He wasn’t overawed by the occasion and had his chances to beat Murray. Tonight he takes on another giant in the game.
It is a nice reward for the Australian after missing 12 months of tennis with a shoulder injury. In 2013, at the Munich ATP event, Millman injured his shoulder and was forced to have surgery on it.
At the time, he was at a career high ranking of 126 in the world, and on the verge of having a wildcard into the French Open. Instead he was forced to sit on the sidelines as Nick Kyrgios made his debut and beat Radek Stepanek in the 1st round.
When Millman came back to the sport in 2014, he had to do it the hard way, with a ranking as low as 1193 in the world. This forced the Australian to play on the lowest level on the professional tour and work his way back to where he was in 2013.
What followed was an inspired comeback.
In four months of tennis, from August to November, Millman won 31 out of 36 matches. This included 4 titles, with two coming in ITF events, and two coming from the ATP Challenger circuit.
His success saw a rapid rise in his ranking as he rose 950 spots to 153 in the world. The results at the end of 2014 handed him a wildcard into this event from Tennis Australia and he has made the most of it so far.
On Tuesday he won just his third ATP World Tour match against Rhyne Williams in a dominant display.
His 6-3 6-1 win was a fantastic win built on his serve, his power at the baseline, and his running to chase every ball.
On his serve, he only lost 11 points, out of 44. He also controlled the baseline and forced Williams into plenty of unforced errors in the match.
Tonight will be a completely different story.
This is a true David v Goliath battle. Federer has achieved almost everything in tennis. Millman has yet to win a Grand Slam match or even be inside the top 100 in the world.
For Federer he enters his 18th season as a professional. Ironically he is also looking for his 18th Grand Slam title with his last win coming at Wimbledon in 2012.
Last year saw him come close to winning Wimbledon again as he made the final. Unfortunately for him he ran into Djokovic who won the match in five sets.
Despite the loss at Wimbledon, Federer won five titles as he finished the year as the world number two.
If he wins the Brisbane International this week, he will bring up a rare achievement in the game: four wins will bring Federer to 1000 wins in singles in the ATP World Tour.
He would become the third player, after Jimmy Connors and Ivan Lendl, to achieve the feat.
First things first though, he must get past John Millman.
With the talent of Federer, and his success on the court, he should comfortably beat the Australian. What makes the match interesting is how fit Federer is.
This is his first match of the season and his first since he didn’t play in the final of the World Tour finals.
How he goes in the first few games will be interesting. This is where Millman can attack and maybe win a set from the Swiss player.
He has played already and is used to the conditions. Taking full use of that will be vital.
Federer will win this match. How he starts will determine how many sets the contest goes for. If he starts slow then Millman can take it to three.
If Federer starts well then he will win the first set in a close one before pulling away in the second.
Regardless of the result for Millman, it will be a great opportunity to play the former world number 1.
Prediction: Federer 2-0.
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