Milos Raonic continued his title defence at the Brisbane International with a hard-fought 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, win over Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals.
Playing in front of a packed crowd at the Queensland Tennis Centre, Raonic’s eight aces in the opening set failed to curb his opponents more aggressive start to the match. Nadal grabbed his first breakthrough in the fifth game. A wobble in Raonic’s serve saw a poor miss at the net gift the Spaniard a duo of break point chances for a 3-2 lead. The break was then secured thanks to another costly error from the Canadian, this time on his forehand side. Despite boasting the advantage, Nadal struggled to pull away from the determined world No.3, missing two chances to secure a double break. Eventually the one-set advantage were secured by Nadal on his sixth set point when a backhand slice was unsuccessfully returned by the top seed.
Despite leading their head-to-head 6-1 going into the match, Nadal was unable to exert his dominance beyond the opening set. Half-opportunities came and went for both players before it was Raonic’s turn to strike back. A deep returned from the Canadian followed by a poor error on the Nadal forehand revived Raonic’s match chances with a break in his advantage. A blistering forehand cross-court winner then completed a love-service game for the top seed, forcing the match into a deciding set.
Raonic’s resurgence intensified in the third set as the nine-time French Open champion began to buckle. Yet another forehand winner awarded the defending champion the early break as he strolled to a 2-0 lead. From then on Raonic had an answer to every question ask of him by Nadal, displaying tennis that justifies his position as the third best player in the world. His 143-minute comeback was finally sealed with a serve out wide that his Spanish rival failed to return.
“It was a great match and I am very happy with myself, how I competed against such a great player and competitor as Rafa.” Said Raonic.
Sealing the win with an emphatic 23 aces and 50 outright winners, Raonic is just two wins away from becoming only the third man in history to win back-to-back titles in the tournament after Mark Woodforde and Andy Murray.
Dimitrov awaits in the semis
Awaiting the top seed in the last four will be Grigor Dimitrov. Dimitrov, who reached the Brisbane final in 2013, required over two hours to battle his way past Dominic Thiem 6-3, 4-6, 6-3. The Bulgarian proved to be the stronger of the two as proceedings approached its climax with an error-dominated ending from Thiem. There is still room for improvement for the 25-year-old, who only managed to get 45% of his first serves in and produced five double faults.
“It was a good match, I expected to play a good match. Thiem is one of the contenders in any tournament,” said Dimitrov.
“I thought I could have done a few things better but a win is a win. I’m just happy with my performance so far.”
The upcoming semifinal clash will be the first match between the two since Dimitrov’s four sets win at the 2014 Australian Open. Also losing to the Bulgarian in a previous meeting in Brisbane, Raonic is eager to get revenge.
“It’s a difficult match. I played him (Dimitrov) during my first time here in Brisbane. It didn’t turn out so great for me, so hopefully I can turn that storyline around tomorrow.” The world No.3 said.
The other Brisbane semifinals will see Stan Wawrinka take on Kei Nishikori.
