RAONIC OUT
Double faults a factor as Canadian falls to 0-9 against 13-time Grand Slam champ
CINCINNATI — Milos Raonic still has no answer for Novak Djokovic.
Despite pushing the 13-time Grand Slam winner to three sets, the native of Thornhill, Ont., couldn’t solve Djokovic, losing 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 in the quarter-final of the Western and Southern Open on Friday.
With the loss, Raonic, the 29th-ranked player in the world, dropped to 0-9 in his career against the Serbian.
Both players held serve until the seventh game of the first set, when Raonic took a 4-3 lead. A clearly frustrated Djokovic destroyed his racket in frustration when he hit wide facing game point.
But up 5-4, Raonic was broken while serving for the set, and broken again in the deciding game to give the Djokovic the early advantage. The 10th seed fell awkwardly on the last point of the set and appeared to roll an ankle, but didn’t seem to suffer any mobility issues throughout the rest of the match.
Raonic got an early break in the second and held serve for the win to take just his second set ever against Djokovic, and first on hard court in 11 tries.
In the third set, Raonic and Djokovic exchanged early breaks until Djokovic pulled away. The 27-year-old Canadian went up love-30 in the deciding game, but Djokovic strung together four consecutive points to take the match.
Raonic struggled with consistency on his serve throughout, launching 21 aces to Djokovic’s five, but also racking up nine double faults.
Djokovic looked fatigued at times after completing a rain-suspended 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over defending champion Grigor Dimitrov earlier Friday. The match was suspended during the third round Thursday after significant rain delays greatly affected the day’s schedule of matches.