Rafael Nadal may have lost to Novak Djokovic for the sixth successive time in crashing out of the BNP Paribas Open semi-finals, but the Spaniard believes it could be the start of his revival.
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Nadal and Djokovic are almost even in their 47 head-to-head meetings, with the Serb owning a 24-23 edge.
Both Nadal and Djokovic eased through their Indian Wells quarter-final contests in straight sets Friday and will now square off in a match worthy of a title clash.
epa05221512 Novak Djokovic from Serbia in action against Rafael Nadal from Spain during their semifinal match at the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament in Indian Wells, California, USA, 19 March 2016.
Nadal improved to 8-1 lifetime against Nishikori and avenged a loss in their most recent prior meeting previous year at Montreal.
Nadal made one last stand on his serve, fighting back from a triple match point with a big forehand in the corner to get to deuce.
“All the success that I have had plays in my favor in many matches, but it’s not a guarantee”.
Victoria Azarenka defeated Karolina Pliskova 7-6 (7-1), 1-6, 6-2 in the other women’s semifinal. Raonic improved to a career-best 14-1 this year. Djokovic has been No. 1 for 89 straight weeks, he has 26 ATP Masters 1000 titles – and could catch Nadal if he gets his 27th Sunday – and is 21-1 this season, with titles at Doha, Qatar, and the Australian Open.
After getting broken to trail 3-0 in the second set, Williams returned to her seat and smashed her racket.
“Maybe I’m quicker. I think I can take the ball earlier”.
The 25-year-old Raonic will be making his third appearance in a Masters final and is seeking his first title. Today was closer than the last couple of times against the best player of (the) world, so (it) was a very positive week for me.
“If Milos serve well, he can win against everybody”, Nadal said. Raonic, seeded 12th and ranked 14th in the world, hadn’t lost a set here before the speedy and persistent Goffin wrested the middle set from him Saturday.
In Djokovic’s first service game, after two uncharacteristic double faults from the world number one as a result of the sun, Nadal capitalized on his first break point chance of the day, breaking the top seed for an early 2-0 lead on a forehand victor down-the-line.
“I feel like I did the things right”, Raonic said.
Goffin became the first player in the tournament to take a set off Raonic when he won the second.
Djokovic spoke about maintaining his composure despite losing his lead in the gritty first set, per Helene Elliott of the Los Angeles Times. “She’s not a type of player that if you’re going to play safe she’s going to give it to you or she’s going to miss”.
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Djokovic and Nadal traded blows in a tense opening set, with the Serb battling hard at 4-5 to level the match.
