World No.35 Milos Raonic rallies past the 2018 finalist Marin Cilic in straight sets 6-4, 6-3, 7-5 in the fourth round of the Australian Open 2020 on Sunday. With this victory, Raonic reaches quarterfinal in Melbourne for the fifth time in the last six years.
En route to his 2nd victory in four matches against the Croatian, Raonic blasted 35 aces with a whopping number of 54 winners. On the other hand, Cilic lost the plot with a low of 60 percent first serve in, losing 47 percent of second serve points. The 31-year-old could not win a single breakpoint on his opponent’s serve.
Milos Raonic edged Cilic in the first set
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Both the players started the match with a spectacular form as there were no troubles for the server till the 9th game of the set. Raonic changed gears at the right moment, breaking Cilic while he was serving to stay in the set at 4-5 and winning the opening set 6-4 in 46 minutes.
The Canadian hit 8 aces and 15 winners edge past Marin Cilic, who committed less unforced errors than his opponent but managed to hit only 43 percent of the first serve in and losing 42 percent of his second serve points.
Huge play from @milosraonic to close out the set!
He breaks Marin Cilic in the 10th game of the first set to claim it 6-4. 💪#AusOpen | #TeamMilos pic.twitter.com/pUM4azmpMT
— Tennis Canada (@TennisCanada) January 26, 2020
Raonic broke once to win the second set
The 29-year-old carried the momentum in the second set as rushed to win the first three games to edge ahead with a break. The Croatian took a medical timeout at 0-3 to treat his lower back.
The games then went with the serve till the end of the set with Raonic serving out the set at 6-3 in 37 minutes.
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71 aces (so far) for Milos Raonic at this year’s #AusOpen.
In addition to the aces hit by our other Canadians, that’s $7,100 that we at Tennis Canada are donating to the the Australian bushfire relief efforts.
🇨🇦🤝🇦🇺 pic.twitter.com/qgrxupQmOk
— Tennis Canada (@TennisCanada) January 26, 2020
Raonic Seals the match with the third set victory
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The set saw no break of serves till 5-5 with Cilic saving three breakpoints in the third game and Raonic saving two set points while serving to stay in the set at 4-5. The 2016 semifinalist then levelled up his game to break Cilic at 6-5 and served out the match after 2 hours and 15 minutes, winning the third set 7-5.
He will next face the winner between Deigo Schwartzman and Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals of the 2020 Australian Open.