By Chris Oddo | Thursday, March 27, 2014
Rafael Nadal hit a few speedbumps, but by the end of his 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory over Milos Raonic he looked to be in championship form.
Photo: Christopher Levy
Rafael Nadal double-faulted the first set away to rising Canadian Milos Raonic at the Sony Open on Thursday evening, but responded in the ensuing sets with some of his best tennis of the tournament, eventually charging past the hard-serving 23-year-old, 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.
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Nadal had never dropped serve against Raonic in four previous meetings but he handed him the opener on a platter when he double-faulted twice while serving at 4-5. It was the first set that Nadal has dropped in Miami—he had only lost eight games heading into Thursday's quarterfinal.
Nadal would respond quickly however, breaking Raonic twice in set two to force a decider.
“When you are playing these kind of matches against a player like Milos, that he's able to serve this way, anything can happen when you are in the third set,” Nadal said. “So happened that the match was for me and very happy for that.”
Raonic would find his way back into the match, trading blows with Nadal well into the decider, but the Spaniard eventually broke through in the tense seventh game on the strength of his forehand, which produced more winners as the match went on.
“I felt that I finished the match playing better,” Nadal said. “For me to be in semifinals after early losing Indian Wells is very important for the confidence, very important because there is good points for me, too. You know, from Indian Wells, Miami, until end of Roland Garros is very important part of the season for me.”
Nadal dropped only four points on serve in the final set, something that he felt he needed to do to get past the vastly improved Canadian. “At the end, the important thing is be solid with my serve in these kind of matches,” he said. “Good thing of today, I lost once my serve and then not one more.”
Nadal will face Tomas Berdych in Friday's semifinal. He has won 16 straight matches against the Czech No. 1. In Friday's other semifinal, Novak Djokovic will take on Japanese No. 1 Kei Nishikori.