Australian Open: Djokovic beats Raonic, reaches semis

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA— Canada’s Milos Raonic just can’t solve Novak Djokovic.

The No. 32 seed from Thornhill fell to 0-10 against the secondseeded Djokovic with a 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (1) loss in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open on Tuesday.

Raonic said Djokovic was “just too good.”

“Him, all the other top guys as well, once they sort of can get into a groove, get their balance behind them, things get more difficult,” Raonic said. “He was in a lot of my service games. I was sort of holding on. But eventually at one point, he found an opening.”

The hard-serving Canadian had 18 aces, while Djokovic had just four. But Djokovic still had a better percentage of points won when getting the first serve in — converting on 69 per cent of his chances as compared to Raonic’s 63 per-cent clip.

It was Raonic’s fifth run to the quarter-finals or better at the Australian Open in the past six years.

Djokovic is now two wins away from defending his Australian Open crown. The Serbian next plays six-time Australian Open winner Roger Federer, who saved seven match points before fending off 100th-ranked Tennys Sandgren in five sets.

Elsewhere, Canadian Gabriela Dabrowski and partner Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia have been ousted from women’s doubles.

The No. 4 Czech duo of Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova toppled No. 6 Dabrowski and Ostapenko 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 on Tuesday in the quarter-finals.

Dabrowski is still alive in the mixed doubles with partner Henri Kontinen of Finland. The No. 3 seeds beat Australia’s Matthew Ebden and Jessica Moore 7-5, 7-6 (5) in a secondround match on Tuesday.