Nick Kyrgios Makes His First Masters 1000 Semifinals After Beating Milos Raonic - UBITENNIS

Nick Kyrgios Makes His First Masters 1000 Semifinals After Beating Milos Raonic

The Australian rising star Nick Kyrgios has reached his first ever Masters 1000 semifinal at the Miami Open. He beat the World No. 12 Milos Raonic 6-4 7-6(4) after an hour and 46 minutes. Nick Kyrgios will now for sure break the Top 20 for the first time in his career. He will also become the new Australian No. 1, taking it from Bernard Tomic.

By Jakub Bobro
3 Min Read
KEY BISCAYNE, FL - MARCH 31: Nick Kyrgios of Australia returns a shot to Milos Raonic of Canada during the Miami Open presented by Itau at Crandon Park Tennis Center on March 31, 2016 in Key Biscayne, Florida. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

Milos Raonic is the one that started the match off with a service game, which proved to be crucial to the whole match. Kyrgios was very aggressive on return, stepping in the court for the second serve and was on or very near the baseline on the first serve. Kyrgios broke Raonic in the first game. This was the first time Raonic got broken in the whole tournament and it turned out to be the only break in the match. Kyrgios was aggressive on the return throughout the whole match, and had a 15-30 opportunity on the next three service games from Raonic, however he didn’t get a break point from any of them. Raonic had his chances to break back at 1-2, but didn’t take any of the three break points. Both players kept holding their serves, and Kyrgios, despite having to face a break point in that game, served the set out 6-4. Kyrgios’ returning paid off, as Raonic won only 47% of points after the second serve.

In the second set, both players truly stepped up their serving games, Raonic losing only 9, and Kyrgios 7 points on their serves in the second set. Raonic again was serving first again, and used that to put pressure on Kyrgios in the second game. Raonic had a break point, but didn’t get the break. Another big game came at 3-3, when Kyrgios had 3 break points on Raonic’s serve, but didn’t manage to capitalize on any of them. Players held on to their serves, so the second set had to be concluded in a tie-breaker. Kyrgios saved the best of his adrenalin-fueled game for last. We saw him serve two of his strongest serves in the tiebreaker, the fastest was at 136 MPH (219 KMH). There was only one mini break at 2-2, but that was enough for Kyrgios to take control. at 5-4, he hit a 127 MPH (204 KMH) second serve to set up the match point. He was successful and is through to the Miami Open semifinals. His next opponent will be Kei Nishikori, who beat Gael Monfils in the quarterfinals. This match will be played at 7 PM local time (1 AM GMT).

 

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