Raonic’s Miami Open run comes to an end
KEY BISCAYNE, Florida — Canada’s Milos Raonic fell to fifth-seeded Juan-Martin del Potro of Argentina 7-5, 6-7 (1), 6-7 (3) on Wednesday in the quarter-finals of the Miami Open.
The slugfest took nearly three hours, with Raonic relying heavily on his big serve. He had 18 aces to del Potro’s six.
Raonic, from Thornhill, Ont., lost to del Potro in the semifinals of the Indian Wells Masters this month.
Del Potro will face American John Isner in the next round.
Elsewhere, Danielle Collins’ favourite player, for as long as she can remember, has been Venus Williams.
Clearly, she wasn’t star-struck when facing her idol. Collins got the biggest win of her pro career Wednesday night, shocking the eighth-seeded Williams 6-2, 6-3 in the quarter-finals. Collins needed to survive two qualifying matches before making the main draw at Key Biscayne, and will now meet sixth-seeded Jelena Ostapenko in today’s semifinals.
“The first time I saw Venus in the locker-room, I nearly cried,” Collins said. “I mean, I’ve idolized her my whole life. She’s been my favourite player for forever. This is such a special moment, I’m just trying to wrap my head around it.”
Collins topped U.S. Open finalist Madison Keys earlier this month at Indian Wells and made a much bigger statement with this win. She threw both fists into the air when Williams couldn’t handle a serve on Collins’ second match point, and even the three-time champion at Key Biscayne gave her a big smile when they shook hands at the net.
“I’m just starting to finally put all of the pieces together,” said Collins, the 2014 and 2016 NCAA champion at Virginia.
Collins, No. 93 in the world for a few more days, will more than double her career earnings when the money from Miami arrives. She came to Key Biscayne with $305,385 US in career earnings, which she’ll add at least $327,965 to now that she’s in the semifinals. And she’s going to soar in the world rankings, to no lower than 67th.
No qualifier has ever gone this deep at Key Biscayne, though Collins looked comfortable on the stage. She rarely faced trouble and set the tone by breaking Williams — one of her idols, someone who has been playing pro matches for about as long as the 24-year-old Collins has been alive — with her opening chance in each set.
And now Collins, who took the more unusual path through college to pro life, still has a shot at becoming perhaps Miami’s most surprising champion.
For as easy as Collins made it look Wednesday night, John Isner had an even easier time in his quarter-final.
The big-serving Isner made the Miami semifinals for the second time in four years, needing just over an hour to overpower South Korea’s Hyeon Chung 6-1, 6-4.