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BRISBANE. — Roger Federer said on Saturday he was looking at defending his Brisbane International tennis title as a launch-pad to the new season.

The 17-time Swiss Grand Slam champion arrived in Australia on Saturday with yesterday’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 this year’s Brisbane tournament.

“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.” — AFP.