Roger Federer smashes injury concerns, lights up Brisbane International

Roger Federer took 55 minutes to dispel all injury doubts with a 6-2 6-1 routing of unheralded German Tobias Kamke in the second round of the Brisbane International on Thursday.

Media speculations swirled around the fitness of the world number three less than two weeks before he launches his bid for a fifth Australian Open title and the Swiss maestro dismissed them by dropping only three games in a lop-sided contest. "I'm going to do my best to stay injury free and give myself a chance to win another grand slam," Federer said after setting up a quarter-final against Grigor Dimitrov.

Bulgaria's Dimitrov came from behind to beat Viktor Troicki 5-7 7-6(6) 6-2, while big-serving Canadian Milos Raonic battled through to the last eight with a 6-7(2) 6-1 6-4 win over Croatian Ivan Dodig.

In the women's draw, Samantha Crawford will face twice Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka who trounced U.S. Open finalist Roberta Vinci 6-1 6-2. Germany's Angelique Kerber also booked a semi-final spot with a 6-4 6-4 victory against Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

At number four, the German is the highest seed remaining after injury robbed the tournament of Maria Sharapova, Simona Halep and Garbine Muguruza. In the last four, she takes on Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro who rallied past American Varvara Lepchenko 4-6 6-4 7-5.