Nadal back into Aussie semifinals

A RESURGENT Rafael Nadal beat Milos Raonic to reach his first Grand Slam semi in three years at the Australian Open yesterday, as Serena Williams eyed a final with her sister Venus.

Nadal hasn’t contested a major semifinal since he won the last of his 14 Grand Slam titles at the 2014 French Open, but he never looked like losing to Raonic, the Canadian world number three.

Spain’s Nadal yelled in delight as he completed a 6-4, 7-6 (9/7), 6-4 win which set up a semifinal with Grigor Dimitrov – and potentially with old rival Roger Federer in the final.

“Even though I had a great career, I had a lot of tough moments,” said Nadal, who struggled with injury last year and failed to reach any of the Grand Slam quarterfinals. That makes me enjoy this even more.”

Nadal has a 7-1 head-to-head record with Dimitrov, the Bulgarian 15th seed dubbed ‘Baby Fed’ for his style, who earlier ousted Belgium’s David Goffin 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.

Federer plays fellow Swiss Stan Wawrinka in today’s semifinal with the very real prospect of a ninth Grand Slam final against Nadal, the first since the 2011 French Open.

The women’s competition also has a retro feel after Serena Williams beat Britain’s Johanna Konta 6-2, 6-3 to set up a semifinal with Mirjana Lucic-Baroni – 19 years after they last met as fellow teenage prodigies.

Williams, 35, has come a long way since her last meeting with LucicBaroni in the second round at Wimbledon in 1998, when they were both 16 and without a trophy to their names.

While Williams is now eyeing an Open-era record 23rd Grand Slam title and a return to world number one, the Croatian is into her first major semi since 1999 after her career was derailed by personal trauma.

Unseeded Lucic-Baroni wept freely and gasped, “this has truly made my life” after she upset Czech world number five Karolina Pliskova 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.

“This is crazy,” said the 34-yearold, who had disappeared from the tennis scene after fleeing her abusive father in Croatia.

Williams, whose sister Venus plays Coco Vandeweghe in today’s other women’s semi, said she could take inspiration from Lucic-Baroni.

“I’m really happy for Mirjana. I was there when she first started.

“To see her be able to never give up actually is super-inspiring to me,” she said.

There was little disappointment from Konta despite her steamrollering by Williams, who was able to raise her game to counter her opponent’s court speed and aggressive striking.

Despite Williams having only 45% success with her first serves, Konta could only break once, in the second set, and the American quickly hit back with two breaks of her own.

“I think it was probably one of the best experiences of my life,” said Konta, 25.

Also on centre court, Dimitrov soared into his second major semifinal with a straight-sets win over Goffin, his 10th victory in a row after a trophy run this month in Brisbane. — AFP