Milos Raonic battled his way past France’s Gael Monfils 6-3,3-6,6-3,6-4, to become the first male Canadian player in history to reach the semifinals of the Australian Open.
In his quarterfinal clash he faced a fresher Monfils. In their four previous rounds in Melbourne, Raonic spent two-and-a-half hours extra on the court (9 hours 51 minutes against 7 hours 23 minutes). Nevertheless, aided by his powerful serve, as well as an exceptional forehand, Raonic overcame every obstacle the Frenchman gave him.
Initially there was a minor delay during the early stages of the match when Monfils asked the umpire to turn one of the screens in the stadium off. The Frenchman argued that it was distracting him, reminiscent of the earlier comments made by Andy Murray during his match against David Ferrer.
Despite this minor complaint, it did nothing to disrupt Raonic’s concentration. The Canadian was the first player to generate a break point after a costly double fault from his opponent. Producing a sequence of deep forehand shots, Raonic forced Monfils to return the ball out, giving him the 3-1 lead. The early break was critical to the outcome of the opening set as Monfils failed to find a way to break Raonic’s monster serving. Tasked with serving for the first set, the world No.14 claimed the set with his sixth ace of the match. Raonic outnumbered Monfils with winners during the opening set (16-6) but he also significantly produced far more unforced errors (12-3).
Despite suffering a disappointing start to the match, Monfils responded triumphantly in the second set. Raonic had an opportunity to break in the fifth game of the second set as he worked his way to 40-15. He was unable to take advantage of his double chance after some impressive play from Monfils, including a 216 KM/H ace, edged him ahead 3-2. The mini comeback by Monfils generated him his first patch of momentum in the match as he produced a series of impressive returns in the following game to break Raonic for the first time of the match to extend his lead 4-2. Taking advantage of the slight decline in Raonic’s intensity, Monfils fended off a break back point before closing out the set with a ace. Impressively Monfils outclassed the usually reliable Raonic serve throughout the second set by producing eight aces compared to his opponents one.
Frustrated with his second set performance, Raonic responded with a dominating start to the third. A deep return to the baseline enabled the Canadian to break for a 2-0 lead as Monfils struggled to find a first serve. Mirroring the two previous sets, a poor service game dictated the outcome of the set. Raonic had a chance to seal the set 6-2 after a stunning forehand gave him set point before Monfils battled back to take the game. Despite the French resistance, It was only a matter of time before the 13th seed clinched the 2 sets to 1 lead. A smash of the net moved Raonic to one set away from the last four.
Six games away from his maiden Australian Open semifinal, Raonic dealt a further blow to Monfils by breaking him for the fourth time in the match to lead 3-2. The lead was almost squandered a couple games later when a forehand from the world No.14 went wide to hand the Frenchman his second break point of the match. Fortunately for Raonic’s camp, he saved the break point before moving to 5-3, one game away from the win. After a love service game from Monfils, Raonic claimed the victory when he hit a forehand smash down the line.
Raonic is only the second Canadian player in history to reach the last four of the Australian Open after Eugenie Bouch in 2014. He is also the first no. 13th seed to reach the last four at a Grand Slam since David Nalbandian at the 2004 US Open.
Milos #Raonic believes in the sleeve! #Ausopen Watch more https://t.co/Ek545Zh2D9 https://t.co/R21Jl2EsNq
— Australian Open (@AustralianOpen) January 27, 2016
In his second Grand Slam semifinal, Raonic will play world No.2 Andy Murray. Since 2012 he has played Murray six times with the head-to-head level at 3-3. Their last meeting was at the 2015 Madrid Open where Murray won in straight sets.
