Raonic Into Brisbane Semis
Raonic Into Brisbane Semis
No. 4 seed Milos Raonic is into the Brisbane International semi-finals for the second consecutive year after downing 78th-ranked Lucas Pouille of France 6-4, 6-4 on Friday in Pat Rafter Arena.
A day earlier, after putting the wraps on a three-set comeback against qualifier Ivan Dodig, the Canadian had spoken of his new alignment with coach Carlos Moya, of what he hoped the ‘98 Roland Garros champion might add to his arsenal. The 25-year-old said that with the Spaniard’s help he hoped to mix things up on his serve, come in more and put more mid-court balls away, find ways to open up the court with his forehand.
In other words, he’s looking to be more aggressive.
He put that into practice on Friday, putting pressure on his opponent from the very start. He surrendered just three points on his serve in the 36-minute opening set (20 for 23), a break at 1-all the difference.
Pouille, at 21 the youngest of 10 Frenchmen in the Top 100 of the Emirates ATP Rankings, fell behind early in the second set, too. Raonic registered breaks in the first and seventh games, and wrapped up the match with his 12th ace of the afternoon. In all, he won 27 of 29 first-serve points (93%).
“I think yesterday I was being aggressive and coming forward,” said Raonic of his win over Dodig. “Today I thought I came forward as well, but I was probably more efficient.”
Up next for Raonic is Bernard Tomic, who upset No. 2 seed Kei Nishikori in three tough sets.
Tomic once said that if he played Nishikori 10 times, he might beat him once, maybe twice. Well, the 18th-ranked Australian finally broke through on Friday in Brisbane, getting his first win over the Japanese star in three FedEx ATP Head2Heads 6-3, 1-6, 6-3.
With the two-hour upset, the No. 7-seed avenged a loss to Nishikori at this same tournament in the very same round in 2015.
Nine of Tomic’s 14 aces came in the first set alone, but Nishikori managed to level the match in the lopsided second set, capitalising on two of three break-point chances. But Tomic would secure two breaks of his own in the third set at 1-0 and 2-1 to put the match out of reach. In all, he saved eight of 11 break points and won 45 of 62 (72%) first-serve points.
“I didn’t play my best tennis today, but I think he played good tennis, too,” said Nishikori. “He served really well. He saved many important points with his serve. He was running side to side and he got so many balls back, so it was really tough. First tournament of the year, so I’m not that worried.”
Tomic is now 7-32 versus Top-10 competition after snapping Nishikori’s streak of seven straight wins over Australian opponents.