What a day and what a Raonic. The Canadian pulled out an amazing perfomance to recover a 1-4 deficit in the third set and to win a true epic. He will play Nishikori that thrashed Baghdatis 6-2 6-2.
Raonic – Murray 6-3 6-7(5) 7-6(4)
We knew it was coming. Andy had a remarkable year winning the Olympic Games and the US Open and it is normal that he is mentally exhausted. On the other side Raonic is as hungry as ever and he wants to break into the top 10 as soon as possible… and he is very close to.
The match was a 2 hours and 46 minutes epic with Raonic saving 2 match points and recovering a horrible 1-4 deficit in the third set.
“Here, from the first match, I’ve been more aggressive, have come in as much as I can when I’ve created the opportunities and play under my terms more so than just waiting around,” said Raonic. “A big thing I changed coming into this week, as that I’m returning a lot closer. That took time. A big part of it is mental, preparing for that and having that instinct and drive to go after it when I have the opportunities to get ahead in the points.”
Nishikori – Baghdatis 6-2 6-2
This was a much easier match as it took barely 1 hour for the Japanese to get over Baghdatis. The match was quite one sided with Nishikori breaking the Cypriot 4 times without conceding a single break point.
“It’s an incredible feeling because I’m in a final in my home country,” Nishikori said “I didn’t think I would be in the final, so I’m very happy. I haven’t won a tournament in four years so hopefully I can win tomorrow.”
The Final
This will be the first time this two play each other. The favorite is Raonic.. at least form a ranking point of view.
If Raonic wins he will break in the top ten in the race for London… interesting!
