Raonic Makes Indian Wells Final

Milos Raonic is through to his third ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final after defeating David Goffin 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 on Saturday at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.

The Canadian will look to win his first Masters 1000 title when he takes on either Novak Djokovic in Sunday’s final. The 25-year-old Raonic has made an emphatic return from the adductor tear that sidelined him through February.

The Toronto native had made a career-best start to his 2016 campaign, winning his eighth ATP World Tour title in Brisbane, where he defeated Roger Federer in the final, before upsetting Stan Wawrinka en route to his second Grand Slam semi-final showing at the Australian Open (l. to Murray), where he suffered the leg injury.

Raonic was contesting his second successive Indian Wells semi-final (l. to Federer 2015) and made a strong start against Goffin, whom he had lost to in their only previous meeting two years ago in Basel.

The right-hander broke Goffin in the fourth game of the match for a 3-1 lead and saved a break point in the seventh game before going on to seal the opener. But Goffin struck back, engineering only the third break of Raonic’s serve this tournament as he went up 3-1 in the second set.

The Belgian couldn’t hold on to his initial advantage, as Raonic immediately struck back, but the diminutive Goffin again broke Raonic in the eighth game and served out to level the match, becoming the first player to take a set off Raonic in the tournament.

Raonic responded immediately with a break of serve at the start of the third set and did not let up, punishing the Belgian for winning only 18 per cent of his second serve points to claim victory in just over two hours.

“I feel like I did things right,” said Raonic. “I sort of lost my way a little bit in the second set, and it’s important to me sort of to be able to recognise that and get things back on the right track and play and finish off with some good tennis like I did.

“I feel like even when I’m not playing my best [this year] I’m able to find the answer and the solutions. I feel like I’m competing well. I feel like I’m dealing with the situations much better.

“Definitely have been playing higher level this year, but I think also when I have had those difficult moments or let’s say some kind of crisis throughout matches, I have found solutions better. I think I have been much more regimented about that and a lot more disciplined with myself and a lot more understanding about the way I need to go about things during the match. And also analyzing and adjusting and accepting things during matches.”

The 25-year-old Goffin is the first Belgian man to reach the semi-finals at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. The right-hander almost exited in the second round, saving two match points to edge Next Generation star Frances Tiafoe, before upsetting Wawrinka and Marin Cilic to reach the final four.

“I think in the second I was just better than him,” said Goffin. “I was starting to return a lot of balls. I was really aggressive on his second serve, and it was really effective in the second.

“Against a player like Milos it’s always frustrating when you have the feeling that during the match you’re better than him, but he has an amazing serve and sometimes you lose one or two shots in a game and then he has the break. He started to serve better until the end of the match.

“Maybe I just lost my concentration during three or four points and then that’s why I lost the match.”

Raonic’s two previous Masters 1000 finals came in Montreal in 2013 (l. to Nadal) and Paris in 2014 (l. to Djokovic). This time, the Canadian is hopeful he can come closer to his first title. “I want it to be a lot different than it has been the last two times,” said Raonic. 

“I think I have a better understanding of what I need to do. I think I have more tools, and just like today I can be a lot more accepting and I can understand how things happen during a match and I can adjust, which I didn’t do well the last two times.

“I have obviously a big challenge ahead of me, but I have been pretty good this year at finding solutions.”

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