Aggressive Raonic downs Nadal

Cornet, Pliskova meet in final

BRISBANE: A more aggressive Milos Raonic moved into the semi-finals of the Brisbane International when he beat Spaniard Rafael Nadal in a high quality quarter-final yesterday. Raonic, the defending champion, came back from losing the first set to overhaul Nadal 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, disappointing the sellout crowd who were almost all cheering for a Spanish victory. He will now play Bulgaria’s seventh seed Grigor Dimitrov following a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 winner over fourth ranked Dominic Thiem of Austria.

Raonic beat Roger Federer to win the 2016 title, the start of a successful year that saw him rise to three in the world. But in the first set his serve was slightly off and Nadal took advantage, breaking in the fifth game to take the early lead. Nadal had the chance to break again in the fifth game of the second set, but Raonic served his way out of trouble, saving the game with one of his 23 aces then breaking the Spaniard in the eighth game to level proceedings. The Canadian then seized on a poor Nadal service game at the start of the third set to break him to love and when he fought off a break point of his own to go ahead 3-1, the momentum had swung to the defending champion. Stan Wawrinka and Kei Nishikori will meet in the second semi-final following contrasting wins. Second seed Wawrinka battled for over two-and-a-half hours before seeing off rising British player Kyle Edmund 6-7 (2/7), 64, 6-4, before Nishikori, the third seed, demolished young Australian Jordan Thompson 6-1, 6-1. Wawrinka, the reigning US Open champion, looked out of sorts against an inspired Edmund, who dominated the match for long periods and deservingly won the first set. But the 31-year-old Swiss scrambled well and was able to break Edmund once in the second set to level the match.

Meanwhile, Alize Cornet reached her biggest final in over two years after an “exhausted” Garbine Muguruza withdrew from their semi-final of the Brisbane International yesterday. The unseeded Frenchwoman was leading her Spanish opponent 4-1 in the first set when Muguruza decided she couldn’t continue. Although the official reason was a right thigh injury, the fourth seeded Spaniard, who had spent over seven hours on court in her first three rounds, conceded later that she was physically spent.

Cornet will now play third seeded Czech Karolina Pliskova in the final, the first time the 26-year-old from Nice has reached the decider of a Premier Level tournament since she lost to Venus Williams in Dubai in 2014, after having beaten Serena in the semi-finals. A delighted Cornet said Muguruza’s withdrawal had been the perfect result. — Agencies