Raonic Becomes First Canadian to Reach Aussie Open Quarters
Milos Raonic became the first Canadian in the Open Era to reach the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, defeating the 12th-seeded Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-7(7), 6-3 on Monday in Melbourne.
The match was evenly played throughout as both players exchanged sets through the first four. Even in the fifth-set, both Lopez and Raonic traded holds through the first seven games to give the big-serving Canadian a 4-3 advantage.
In the eighth game, Raonic was finally able to seize control, coming back from 15-40 down to grab the break from Lopez. Up 5-3, the 24-year-old Canadian held once more to survive the five-set thriller.
“It’s great to be doing what I’m doing and that it is making a difference,” said Raonic of making history. “It is, I guess, part of some history, if you look really deep. But at the end of the day, at the same time, I’m always pushing myself for what I want to achieve.”
Raonic’s serve was on display as he fired 30 aces over the course of the match. Overall, he hit 81 winners to just 47 unforced errors.
“I thought it was okay,” said Raonic. “I’m happy with sort of the attitude that got me through. I stayed calm even though things weren’t always panning out how I would have liked. I came up with the right play on my first match point. He came up with a great shot. Missed a lot of break point opportunities, but overall I can’t complain too much. I fought my way through.”
He will get to take on the tournament’s top seed, Novak Djokovic. The Serb needed just over two hours to get past Gilles Muller of Luxembourg 6-4, 7-5, 7-5.
“He takes away the time from the opponent,” said Djokovic of Muller. “His serves and volleys are very difficult to read. Nice slice serve. I did watch him many times, but it’s different when you haven’t played somebody on the court. On the court, you actually get to feel what his rhythm is and style of play.”
Djokovic continued his outstanding start to 2015. The 27-year-old world number one has yet to drop a set in Melbourne and saved four break points from Muller while notching three of his own, which turned out to be the difference in the contest.
While Muller’s serve was on, Djokovic was able to pick up break points at just the right times to take each set.
“I think I played maybe one or two bad games on my serve in the match,” said Muller. “[Against] those guys, they’re right there right away at that moment, and you’re behind.”
Djokovic leads the head-to-head series with Raonic 4-0, with the most recent meeting coming at the Paris Masters last November.
“He’s got a very good team of people around him,” said Djokovic of Raonic. “I know the people who are around him. If you have a quality, good team of experts around you, and you have that discipline and commitment to what you need to do on a daily basis, the results are inevitable.”
In doubles, top-seeded brothers Bob & Mike Bryan were upset in the third-round by the pair of Brit Dominic Inglot & Romanian Florin Mergea. The Bryan Brothers held a break advantage in the first set before losing in a tie-breaker as the 14th seeded Inglot and Mergea captured the 7-6(4), 6-3 victory.
“Up 4-1 in the first, usually that’s a good position to be in for us,” said Bob Bryan. “A lot of times we’ll run away with a match like that and we let them back in and it just got sticky. We just weren’t as sharp as we wanted to be in pretty much every category.”
