France’s Lucas Pouille has continued his dream run at the Australian Open after hitting his way past Milos Raonic 7-6(4), 6-3, 6-7(2), 6-4, in the quarter-finals.
The 26th seed entered Melbourne Park with little expectation of going deep. Prior to the tournament, the Frenchman had only won one out of eight singles matches played since October (including the Hopman Cup). Despite his lack of wins in recent time, Pouille illustrated his potential with a dominant display against Raonic, a player who he had never took a set off in their three previous meetings on the tour.
“I’m very happy. I knew it would be a tough match. I did really good on my returns and I held my serve throughout almost all of the match.“ Pouille said during his on-court interview.
“I didn’t win a match before coming into Melbourne. Now here I am in the semi-finals, I’m just very, very happy.”
Taking on a player who is known as one of the biggest servers in the game, it was the French world No.31 who was the more dominant. Pouille claimed an impressive 84% of the points behind his first serve as he hit 62 winners past his Canadian rival. He also has the chance to break the Raonic serve 14 times during the clash, but could only convert three of them.
“I really wanted to return as best as possible to put a lot of balls into the court, make him play.” The 24-year-old commented about the tactics he used.
“I just enjoyed the moment and that’s what I did.”
Pouille experienced a scare early in the match when he got broken to fall behind 0-3. Enabling Raonic to gradually work his way to 5-2 in the opener. Despite the blip, Pouille hit back with interest as he impressively didn’t face another break point for the remainder of the match. Frustrating his rival with a series of stunning passing shots.
Boasting a two sets lead, it looked as if Pouille would cruise towards the victory as he continued to apply pressure onto the Raonic serve. However, during the closing stages of set three, a call made against Raonic fired the Canadian up. The umpire said he wasn’t able to reward him the point because he didn’t see when the Frenchman hit the ball, prompting the world No.17 to reply ‘because you don’t watch. And you’re incapable.’ Following the argument, Raonic raced through the tiebreaker by claiming six points in a row before clinching it to revive his chances.
With neither player buckling behind their serve during the fourth frame, Pouille battled towards the milestone win. Leading 5-4, he once again troubled the Raonic serve as he worked his way to two match point opportunities. He failed to convert his first due to a fine volley from his opponent. Then on his second, a clean forehand winner from Raonic denied him. Eventually, it was third time lucky for Pouille at the expense of an unforced error from across the court. Sending him into the semi-final of a major for the first time in his career.
The milestone has been achieved under the watchful eye on new coach Amelie Mauresmo. A former world No.1 women’s player who has previously worked alongside Andy Murray. Pouille remains in the minority when it comes to an ATP player have a female coach, but he insists that gender plays no part.
“She (Mauresmo) has the right state of mind, she knows everything about tennis. It’s not about being a woman or man.” He said. “You just have to know what you’re doing and she does.”
“We kept working hard. Even after all of the matches that I lost. I went on the court straight after (my loses), decided to take it step-by-step. Give all I have on every single point and here I am.” He later added.
Pouille will play either Novak Djokovic or Kei Nishikori in the semi-finals.
The last Frenchman to win the men’s title in Melbourne was Jean Borotra back in 1928.
