TENNIS ATP PARIS-BERCY – Milos Raonic won the first semifinal at the BNP Paribas Masters 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 against Tomas Berdych in two hours and eight minutes of play. He now waits to see if he will face Djokovic or Nishikori in Sunday’s final.
Milos Raonic will play in his second Master 1000 final after the one reached last year in Montreal. It will be his 13th overall. After his great performance against Federer yesterday, today he won a scrappy match in which neither player was abel to express their best tennis. A break in the first set for Raonic and one in the second set for Berdych were enough to seal the sets as the Canadian was struggling to win points with his second serve and the Czech wasn’t able to win the longer rallies as he would have liked. In the third set the match returned to a more predictable pattern, until Berdych collapsed making two double faults in the crucial twelfth game of the third set. Raonic Won 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 and now awaits the winner of the other semifinal between Djokovic and Nishikori.
The match started with Berdych making mistakes with his ground strokes as Raonic was struggling to place his first serve. The Canadian is the first player to have the chance to break serve in the third game. The first break point is saved by the Czech with a passing shot after ineffective attack. The second break point is won by Raonic who wins a long rally (25 shots) when Berdych sent a backhand wide into the tramlines. The break proved to be enough for the seventh seed to win the first set 6-3 in 37 minutes of play.
In the second set Berdych was able to reduce the number of errors as the Canadian was still struggling to put in first serves and was too vulnerable on his second. The break that decided the set came in the second game. Berdych didn’t give Raonic a chance to break back and could have taken his opponent’s serve for a second time in the sixth game at 4-1, but Raonic managed to hang on. The fifth seed won the second set 6-3 in 47 minutes of play making 16 winners and 12 unforced errors (9 – 11 in the first set) whilst Raonic struggled with his second serve winning just 35% of points.
The third set was closer to what was expected for this match. Both players held serve easily never conceding more than 2 points. The match looked destined to be settled with a tie-break, but at 6-5 for the Canadian, Berdych fell apart and made two double faults and two errors giving the match away. Raonic won 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 in two hours and 8 minutes of play.
“There was a lot of motivation from wanting to make London and I didn’t want to have any type of a letdown today. I knew I’d made it last night and I didn’t want there to be any doubt in my mind about a letdown. So I put even more pressure on myself to make sure that the mental and physical energy was there, because I really wanted to win the match today. I’m fortunate to have plenty of matches ahead of me now. For a while, it looked like I wouldn’t have that opportunity, but I made the most of this week. I’ve been playing great and it’s about making that last and making each win as special as the one before and trying to go all the way.” Raonic said after his match.
“I got a little fortunate there at the end of the match. I was focusing on my service games. I know that’s where my game starts from; I’ve got to take care of my serve. Fortunately, I was able to do so and it worked out at the end there.” he continued.
Berdych was left to regret that last game that cost him the match, “I just totally messed it up with the last game. It was definitely the worst game I ever played here at this tournament this year. You have days like this where things are going well, and then just at the last moment, everything is gone.”
