Milos Raonic reaches Thailand Open final, aiming for top eight spot in year-end showdown

Milos Raonic will make his first finals appearance since the Rogers Cup after avenging his U.S. Open loss to Frenchman Richard Gasquet 3-6, 7-5, 6-4, early Saturday in semifinal action at the Thailand Open.

Gasquet's Labour Day triumph over Roanic at Flushing Meadows in a hard fought five, set battle, prevented the top ranked Canadian from reaching his first quarterfinal at a major.

In defeating Gasquet for the second time in three career matches, Raonic keeps his hopes alive for November's ATP World Tour Finals held in London.

Only the top 8 in the Emirates ATP Race to London standings qualify. Currently, Raonic is 11th with 2,175 points, 750 behind 8th ranked Stanislas Wawrinka. If Roanic can get by Tomas Berdych in Sunday's final, he will gain another 250 points.

It has been an exciting year for the 22-year-old in which he continues to captivate Canadian tennis fans.

Prior to the U.S. Open loss to Gasquet, Raonic became the first Canadian to reach the Canadian Open final since 1958. A short while later, in mid-August, he became the first Canadian to crack the top 10 in the world rankings.

Just a few weeks ago, Raonic and his fellow Davis Cup teammates bowed out to Serbia in the deciding fifth match of their semifinal after a historic run in which they won their first ever World Group matches.

As it should be in any promising career, there always seems to be an opportunity around the corner. Right now for Raonic, the goal is to be the first Canadian to qualify for the year-end showdown at the O2 Arena.

Raonic has meet Berdych once before, defeating him in the third round of the 2012 Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati.