Raonic Fights His Way Back Into Familiar Territory

Milos Raonic might not feel as if he’s playing 100 per cent like his old self, but, early into his comeback season, the Canadian has already returned to familiar territory on the ATP World Tour.

The 2016 Indian Wells finalist (l. to Djokovic) reached his third BNP Paribas Open semi-final (2015) on Friday, beating Sam Querrey of the U.S. for the third consecutive time in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 7-5, 2-6, 6-3. The 6’5” right-hander is into his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 semi-final in 17 months (2016 Paris). Raonic will next meet the winner of Friday’s second quarter-final, sixth seed and 2013 finalist Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina or 31^st seed Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany.

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Raonic came through the old-school way, too – serving and volleying and attacking the net against Querrey, who was playing in his first Masters 1000 quarter-final. The 32^nd seed rushed the net 43 times, winning about half of those attempts (21). He also slapped 43 winners to only 25 unforced errors.

But it was Querrey who was rolling early in their semi-final. When he stepped up to the line to serve at 5-4, the American had lost only three points on serve. But nerves struck Querrey, who had played in a Wimbledon semi-final but never a Masters 1000 quarter-final, and he lost his way. Raonic won 17 of the set’s final 21 points, including two breaks of serve, to take the opener.

The home favourite Querrey, however, came back quickly, breaking twice in the second set and ridding himself of any first-set flashbacks by winning the set with a love service game. The decider came down to the wire, mirroring their tight FedEx ATP Head2Head series. Raonic broke in the eighth game but, as he tried to serve out the match, Querrey had three opportunities to break, all of which were saved by the Canadian.