RAFA ROARS AGAIN AS SERENA EYES DREAM FINAL
A RESURGENT Rafael Nadal beat Milos Raonic to reach his first grand slam semifinal in three years at the Australian Open yesterday, as Serena Williams eyed a final with her sister Venus.
Nadal has not 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 No 3.
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 – with old rival Roger Federer potentially waiting in the final.
Nadal has a 7-1 head-to-head record with Dimitrov, the Bulgarian 15th seed, who earlier ousted Belgium’s David Goffin 6-3 6-2 6-4.
Federer will play fellow Swiss Stan Wawrinka in today’s semifinal with the very real prospect of a ninth grand slam final against Nadal, and the first since 2011.
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 an emotional Mirjana LucicBaroni – 19 years after they last met as fellow teenage prodigies.
Williams, 35, has come a long way since her last meeting with Lucic-Baroni 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 No 1, the Croatian is into her first major semifinal since 1999 after her career was derailed by personal trauma.
Unseeded Lucic-Baroni wept freely and said: “This has truly made my life,” after she upset Czech world No 5 Karolina Pliskova 6-4 3-6 6-4.
“I can’t believe this. This is crazy,” the 34-year-old said.
“She disappeared from the tennis scene after being forced to flee her abusive father in Croatia.
“The only thing I can say is, God is good. That’s all I can say. I can’t believe it. I am a little in shock.”
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. It’s a wonderful story,” she said.
“We both have gone through a lot. We both have survived, and here we are, which I think is a really remarkable story.”