Number 13 seed Milos Raonic fended off Number 4 seed Stan Wawrinka’s fightback in a thrilling five-set match with 6-4 6-3 5-7 4-6 6-3 after three hours and 44 minutes at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne.
Both players got off to a great start to their 2016 season winning titles (Wawrinka in Chennai over Borna Coric and Raonic in Brisbane over Roger Federer). They were still unbeaten in 2016 before their four-round clash in Melbourne. Wawrinka won their previous four head-to-head matches but this time Raonic showed his impressive form. He hit 82 winners including 24 aces
Raonic won the first two one-sided sets 6-4 6-3 winning 27 of his 25 points at the net. The Canadian broke serve for 5-4 in the opening set before breaking three times in the second set where he fought back from 0-2 by winning six of the next seven games for 6-3. Wawrinka fought back from two sets down to force the match to the decider.
The third set went on serve until 5-all. Wawrinka, who only earned a single break point, finally broke serve for 6-5 in the third set with a return winner followed by forehand and backhand passing shots and served out for the set.
Raonic held a 20-point service game with six deuces at the start of the fourth set after saving two break points. Wawrinka took a crucial break of serve to 30 in the fifth game to force the match to the fifth set as Raonic hit a half-volley long. The Swiss player fended off three break points in a 15-point game to take a 5-3 lead.
Raonic broke serve in the sixth game of the fifth set to take a 4-2 lead and held his service game with an ace. Wawrinka fended off a match point in his next service game at 3-5 but Raonic wrapped up the final game to love with a volley winner into the open court after an exciting 3-hour and 44-minute battle.
Raonic won 65 percent of his points at the net.
Raonic has become the first Canadian to reach the quarter finals in all four Grand Slam tournaments.
“It came down to what it always does for me. Try to play in your rhythm, dictate and control the centre of the court. It’s the next step to achieve what I want to achieve. It’s my first win on the Rod Laver, so that’s nice”, said Raonic.
Gael Monfils beats Andrey Kuznetsov in four sets
Raonic set up a quarter final against Gael Monfils who beat Russian surprise Andrey Kuznetsov 7-5 3-6 6-3 7-6 (7-4) in 2 hours and 37 minutes. The Frenchman converted three of his seven break point chances and fired 44 winners including 14 aces.
Monfils has qualified for the quarter finals in Melbourne for the first time in his career in his 11th appearance in this tournament. He has already played in six quarter finals at Grand Slam level after reaching the last 8 four times at the Roland Garros and twice at the US Open.
At 3-2 in the second set Monfils delighted the fans in the Margaret Court Arena with an acrobatic dive to reach a wide forehand at the back of the court but he missed his return.
“It’s like something snaps in my mind. I am a competitor so when I need to, I just fly. People need to understand that if I dive, it’s because I know I can dive. It’s instinct”, said Monfils.
Monfils made a double fault at 3-4 in the second set to hand Kuznetsov the chance to break serve. The Russian player held his service game to clinch the second set.
Monfils was solid on serve hitting 14 aces and did not drop a single point on his first serve in the third set.
“I focused great on my serve. I needed to because he was playing very good”, said Monfils.
At 1-1 after the first two sets Monfils broke serve in the sixth game of the third set to love to take a 4-2 lead. The fourth set came down to the tie-break with no breaks of serve. In the tie-break Monfils hit a cross-court backhand pass to race to a 4-0 lead before converting his first match point to win the fourth set.
Kuznetsov hit 46 unforced errors to Monfils’ 44 but made 54 unforced errors to the Frenchman’s 32.
“It was tough. I knew he would come and step in, try to play very fast. That’s what he did. I was a bit nervous, so I could not hit through him for a while. Then suddenly I think I served a bit better and I put more pressure. I grabbed the first set. I felt unlucky in the second. I lost the momentum because at this period I thought I had him. It was a bit tough for me to grip my raquet after the dive. Then it was a bit tougher to play. He had a good second set. Then I served pretty well, tried to focus on my first shot after the serve. Until the end, I was figthing
