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In a five-setter surprisingly free of drama, Milos Raonic reaches the Australian Open quarter-finals
MELBOURNE – Through his first four Australian Opens, Milos Raonic made the third round twice, and the fourth round twice.
In his fifth Australian Open, Milos Raonic has reached the quarter-finals for the first time in his career, after a five-set victory over Spanish veteran lefty Feliciano Lopez that couldn't have been closer by the scores, but somehow still felt as though it wasn't ever really in doubt.
There are five-setters that resonate, most recently on the same court in Hisense Arena less than 24 hours before when home-country hero Nick Kyrgios came back from a two-sets-to-none deficit to defeat Roger Federer's conqueror, Andreas Seppi. A comeback, a favourite, a partisan crowd that got crazier by the minute on the eve of a national holiday, those are all elements that contribute.
There are some five-setters that go even further than that, that become immortal whether it's because they finish so late, or last so long, or involve two players headed to the Hall of Fame.
Raonic vs. Lopez was not one of those.
But Raonic won't care too much about the drama factor. He has done what his lofty No. 8 ranking said he SHOULD do - win four matches against lower-ranked opponents, and get himself into the final eight.
Now, it begins in earnest.
"I thought it was okay. 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," Raonic said. "Missed a lot of breakpoint opportunities, but overall I can't complain too much. I fought my way through."
The only Raonic statistic that didn't look solid – his first serve percentage was high once again, at 75 per cent – was the break points. Raonic earned 13; he converted three.
"The thing I've gotten better at is I haven't let it sort of linger in my mind. I've been putting that behind me. It obviously helps I don't think necessarily I served my best today, but I served, again, a high first-serve percentage. It's something we worked a lot on this off-season, to increase those numbers," Raonic said. "Being in that situation today helped with the stress of if I don't convert breakpoints."
All three service breaks came on Lopez double-faults. Happy Australia Day, mate.
"That's a bonus. If I can't do it, thankfully he did it for me," Raonic said.
Lopez, 33 and playing the best tennis of his career, had already experienced plenty of drama in his run to this fourth-round match. He saved three match points in his first-round win against American Denis Kudla. He saved one more in his second-round encounter with Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, and he saved two more against Raonic Monday night before finally succumbing.
He went almost pure serve-and-volley on the Canadian, whom he had beaten in a tight one at the Rogers Cup in Toronto last summer. It was his best play on a fast court, which the Rod Laver Arena court is. Lopez won 51 of 78 pure serve-volley points; he won 34 of his 62 other trips to the net. He hit 21 aces.
It presented different challenges for Raonic, who had played steadfast baseliners in his first three rounds.
Both match points against Lopez came in the fourth-set tiebreaker, which he eventually pulled off. He pointed up at the heavens, loped to his chair, as the players prepared for a fifth set without a deciding tiebreak.
At 3-4 in that fifth set, that third and final crucial double-fault came. Raonic served it out by hitting serves of 217 km/hour, 215 km/hour out wide, 223 km/hour right up the middle and, after missing a first serve, hit his second at 214 km/hour and won it with a bold backhand up the line.
"When the match went to a fifth set, you always have a chance. I think I made a great effort in that tiebreak when I was match point down, hitting couple good shots at that moment. But the third set, silly break that I got, and it was over. He's not going to give me a break at that time," Lopez said.
On the Canadian tennis history beat – apparently that's still news Down Under – Raonic is the first Canadian (male) to reach the Australian Open quarter-finals in the Open era. He is the first Canadian male to reach three Grand Slam quarter-finals since William Powell back in 1912.
"I play for the opportunity to have a shot against the big guys at the big slams. So the first week's about getting through and giving yourself that opportunity," Raonic said.
