Four-time champion Novak Djokovic dismantled the big serving of Milos Raonic to reach the Australian Open semi-finals. The Serb went into the quarter-final contest against Canadian Raonic off the back of hugely comfortable wins in the previous rounds, but was expected to face a sterner test against the 8th seed. The world number one was in imperious form as he needed just one hour and 55 minutes to beat eighth seed Raonic 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 6-2. However, Djokovic barely broke a sweat as he neutralised the big-hitting Canadian’s ground strokes with pace, precision and variation on the return.
There were moments of frustration for Djokovic as four break points came and went in the first set, but a wild Raonic forehand at 3-2 down in the tie-break handed over the initiative. Djokovic capitalized, before taking an even firmer grip on the contest with a brilliant cross-court backhand winner to finally break at the start of the second.
Here is what Raonic said after the match:
“He just didn’t allow me to organise my game. Even when he was returning well, by the end of the match he was doing a good job of playing deep and never allowing me to go forward,”
“Obviously if you watch the footage, he was pretty much on the baseline the whole time and I was further back.”
“I take a lot of confidence,” said Djokovic. “I try to carry that in every next match, next challenge. Obviously I’m going to play Stan, who is the defending champion here.
“We played five-set matches in 2013 and 2014 Australian Open. I’m going to be ready for a fight. But knowing that I have raised the level of performance tonight, and probably playing the best match of the tournament so far is affecting my confidence in a positive way. “Hopefully I can carry that into next one.”
Djokovic will next face defending champion Stan Wawrinka for the third year running in Melbourne.
“Definitely expecting a marathon like the last couple of years. I’m sure that both of us will give our best to perform our best tennis,” Djokovic said of his semi-final tie against Wawrinka. “We always ask for the best of each other.”
“You know when you play Novak, especially in semi-final in a grand slam, you have to play your best game,” Wawrinka said.
“You have to play your best tennis if you want to push him. So far I’m playing great. I’m confident with my game.”
Novak Djokovic vs Milos Raonic, 28/01/2015, 08:35 GMT, Match Center
Novak Djokovic vs Stanislas Wawrinka, 30/01/2015, 00:00 GMT, Head to Head Matches
Australian Open: Djokovic reaches semi-finals, faces Stan Wawrinka
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