Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Today, Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal defeated Canadian player and current world number 3 Milos Raonic in three straight sets in the Australian Open’s quarter-finals. Defeating Raonic 6–4, 7–6, 6–4, Nadal is to face fifteenth seeded Bulgarian player Grigor Dimitrov in his fifth semi-finals appearance at the Rod Laver Arena.

In the first set, Raonic served six aces, but committed ten unforced errors. Nadal won the first set 6–4 in 43 minutes. The second set lasted for 81 minutes, going to 6–6. Nadal bettered the two, in the tie breaker. Nadal registered only four aces in the entire match as compared to Raonic’s fourteen but won two break points. Nadal won the third set winning it 6–4 to register his 50th win in the Australian Open in two hours and 44 minutes.

Nadal’s head to head record against the Canadian is 7–2. He recently lost against Raonic in the Brisbane Open. Nadal bagged 88% net points in the match winning 76 points in the first serve. After the match, King of Clay said, “I am just excited about being back in the final rounds of the most important events. I am here to try to win this. It is always difficult, but I fought and I worked hard to try to make that happen.” Nadal has not featured in any of the Grand Slam semi-finals after 2014’s French Open.

Swiss player and 2014 winner Stan Wawrinka is only player from the top five seed left in the tournament. He is to face his compatriot Roger Federer in the semi-final.