Raonic ousts Nadal in Brisbane
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RAFAEL Nadal was up a set and had a break point against defending champion Milos Raonic when he sent a forehand just wide.
It was a mistake the 14-time grand slam champion wouldn’t recover from.
Raonic made the most of the reprieve, holding serve in that fifth game of the second set and then attacking Nadal’s serve in the eighth to swing the momentum his way in a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 quarterfinal win at the Brisbane International last night.
The top-seeded Raonic broke Nadal’s serve again to start the third set, and calmly held on for only his second win in eight matches against the Spaniard.
Raonic served 23 aces and hit 50 winners to just 19 for Nadal, who could only convert one of his seven break-point opportunities.
Nadal, coming back from a layoff after an injured left wrist curtailed the end of his 2016 season, beat Raonic in an exhibition tournament last week. But Raonic played with more intensity in Brisbane.
Still in contention to start back-to-back seasons with a Brisbane title, Raonic will play seventh-seeded Grigor Dimitrov — a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 winner over No. 4 Dominic Thiem — in the semifinals.
US Open champion Stan Wawrinka, the second seed, and third-seeded Kei Nishikori will meet in the other semifinal.
US Open finalist Karolina Pliskova will play Alize Cornet in the women’s final today.
Cornet was leading 4-1 when French Open champion Garbine Muguruza retired with a right thigh injury. Pliskova beat sixth-seeded Elina Svitolina 6-2, 6-4 in the other semifinal last night.
In Shenzhen, south China’s Guangdong Province, Alison Riske advanced to the Shenzhen Open final for the second straight year by beating Italy’s Camila Giorgi 6-3, 6-3 yesterday.
The eighth-seeded American will try to win her second career title against Katerina Siniakova. The Czech upset British third seed Johanna Konta 1-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Riske avenged her loss to Agnieszka Radwanska in last year’s final by beating the top-seeded Pole in Thursday’s quarterfinals. Siniakova will be going for her first career title.
In Auckland, New Zealand, eighth-seeded Ana Konjuh prevented a complete rout of seeded players at the ASB Tennis Classic when she beat 2016 runner-up Julia Goerges 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 yesterday to join American Lauren Davis in the final.
Seven seeds had fallen by the time Konjuh took the court for her semifinal against Goerges, who ousted former world No. 1 and third seed Caroline Wozniacki in the quarterfinals.
Davis reached the final when her semifinal opponent, seventh-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, retired while trailing 1-4 in the third set. Ostapenko won the first set 6-4 and Davis took the next 6-4.
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