Raonic eliminates Nadal, faces Federer in Semis
The men’s singles draw of the BNP Paribas Open set up for a potential dream semifinal match between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. But a young Canadian played spoiler to those plans, as Milos Raonic upset 3-seed Nadal in an epic three-set thriller in the quarterfinals, 4-6, 7-6(10), 7-5.
The match lasted nearly three hours (2:58) and had the crowd sitting at the edge of their sets in a nail-biting finish. Raonic lost the first set 6-4, but each man held serve in the second set to force tie break. The 6-foot-5 Canadian battled off three match points and, with the help of a tremendous service game, took the tie break 12-10 and finally got the break he needed against Nadal in the 11th game of the third set.
In earlier Friday play, 2-seed Roger Federer made quick work of Tomas Berdych, 6-4, 6-0. Federer had everything working, so much that Berdych admitted after the match there was nothing he would’ve been able to do to beat the Swiss great.
Meanwhile, in women’s singles, former BNP Paribas Open champ Jelena Jankovic dropped the first set against Simone Lisicki, but rallied to win 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 to earn a trip to the title match. Jankovic will face Simona Halep, who defaulted to the finals after 1-seed Serena Williams withdrew from their match due to injury.
MEN’S SINGLES QUARTERFINAL SCORES:
(2) R. Federer (SUI) def. (9) T. Berdych (CZE) – 6-4, 6-0
(6) M. Raonic (CAN) def. (3) R. Nadal (ESP) – 4-6, 7-6(10), 7-5
WOMEN’S SINGLES SEMIFINAL SCORES:
(3) S. Halep (ROU) def. (1) S. Williams (USA) – DEFAULT BY INJURY
(18) J. Jankovic (SRB) def. (24) S. Lisicki (GER) – 3-6, 6-3, 6-1
