Two Australian Open title contenders collide tonight as former champion Stanislas Wawrinka clashes with rising star Milos Raonic.
Advertisement
The French Open champion expects a tougher test in the fourth round when he meets Canada’s 13th-seed Milos Raonic, a 6-2 6-3 6-4 winner over Serbia’s Victor Troicki on today.
Raonic, who has not progressed further than the quarter-finals, fought his way into the final eight of the Grand Slam with a 6-4 6-3 5-7 4-6 6-3 triumph.
Earlier on Monday, No. 23 seed Monfils advanced to the quarter-final stage at Melbourne Park for the first time in 11 attempts with a win over unseeded Russian Andrey Kuznetsov. Sears collapsed during Ivanovic’s match on Rod Laver Arena on Saturday night – while Murray was beating Joao Sousa at a nearby stadium – and is recovering. A proactive game was followed by a poor one: Wawrinka jerked a wild forehand wide to gift back the break.
‘It’s more about that it always comes down to me, try to play with rhythm, dictate and I was able to carry it through’. In the ninth game, Raonic broke serve then served out the set winning it 6-4.
Azarenka, 27, has been in top early-season form, winning the Brisbane International and racing through her opening three matches in Melbourne for the loss of just five games.
“Never lost, but always been some tough matches”, Wawrinka said after his third-round win over Lukas Rosol.
Wawrinka said he was feeling drained after an illness in recent days, and was surprised to push Raonic to five. “But for sure it’s going to be a really hard match”.
Stan Wawrinka is happy enough when he battles a cold at the Australian Open, while John Isner was the opposite after losing a set.
“I’m very happy with the way I played, the way I competed, the way I turned things around after having the momentum against me going into the fifth” he said. But Raonic curled a short-angled forehand for a third break point. He’s never reached the quarterfinals at Melbourne Park. The eighth seeded Spaniard broke once each in all three sets to give himself a straight sets’ win to the quarter-finals. He hit 52 winners during the match – normally an excellent number, but it paled somewhat in comparison to Raonic’s 82.
Raonic becomes the first Canadian man to reach all four major quarterfinals, but will have his eye on more this week as he looks ahead to a quarterfinal with Gael Monfils. A growing favorite for the title in a strong comeback from two injury-interrupted seasons, Azarenka next faces No. 7 Angelique Kerber, who beat fellow German Annika Beck 6-4, 6-0.
The win represents Raonic’s first win against a top-5 player in a Grand Slam.
“You have these guys, these Grand Slam champions, guys that have been playing great, and to beat one of them for the first time at a Slam, doesn’t matter if that was on Court 15 or whichever court, it has a very concrete sort of message to the work I’m putting in and how I’m going about things”, he said.
“I still think it depends a lot of my game”.
Advertisement
“People need to understand that if I dive, it’s because I know I can dive”.
