Novak Djokovic Storms Past Milos Raonic To Set up The 50th Career Meeting Against Roger Federer

After Roger Federer saved seven match points to reserve is semifinal berth at Australian Open 2020, Novak Djokovic and Milos Raonic took over the Rod Laver Arena.

World Number two Djokovic won over Canada’s Milos Raonic 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(1) in the quarterfinals of the Aussie Open. And now Novak Djokovic sets up his 50th career meeting against his arch-rival Roger Federer at Australian Open 2020.

Milos Raonic was broken for the first time at the Australian Open 2020

The Serb Novak Djokovic stepped on the court wearing a ‘KB’ tracksuit, which was a tribute to his friend late Kobe Bryant. He held his opening service game to love and also came up with 181km/h second serve in the first game. In the next game, Raonic came with a body service, with Novak failing to return serve, Raonic held his serve at 1-1.

Once again Novak held his serve to love at 2-1. Following that, the Serb fended off two break points and the Canadian made a courageous hold at 2-2. The Serb continued the show with his astute footwork and the set was edgy. Their big serves prevailed until 5-4 with Djokovic in the lead.

Raonic’s next game decided the outcome of the tight set. The Canadian saved three set points on his serve. The first one with an unreturned serve, the next with a beautiful inside out forehand winner and the third one with an ace. However, Novak Djokovic was not on the back foot.

A wide forehand from Raonic on the fourth set point gave Djokovic the set. And it was the first time at the Australian Open 2020, the Canadian’s serve got broken. Novak played a clean game of tennis and committed just three unforced errors in the opening set.

Exemplary serves from Novak Djokovic

The solid tennis from Novak Djokovic prevailed in the second set. He made no mistakes and continued with his swift game on the serves. Raonic lost his control on his serve at 2-1. With a backhand passing shot on the break point, Novak held a 3-1 lead in the second set.

Raonic was in the quest to make his comeback in the match, but Novak’s dominance was knocking him down and Milos failed to face break points in the second set. Thereafter, the Canadian could just protect his serves and the Serbian was simply exemplary. Djokovic sealed the set 6-3 with no troubles.

Novak Djokovic sailed into the last-four round

Raonic seemed to produced some cautious play in the third set. He slammed two aces in the opening service game and the Candian made a firm hold at 1-0. The next game was an unusual one from the Serb’s side. A forehand error from Novak at 30-30 gifted Milos a break point. With Raonic missing the next return and Djokovic was refusing to drop his service game, the Serb held his serve at 1-1.

The signature backhand passing shot from Nole!

The set was not a see-sawing and a clean game of tennis continued. After holding his serve at 4-4, Novak’s contact lens broke. He took a medical time out to fix it and went off the court.

Both of them did not lose concentration after the break. However, to hold at 6-5, the big server Raonic saved four break points. Later Djokovic made a rapid hold and the men advanced to play the tiebreak.

Tiebreak

With Novak resisting the serves from Milos, he led by 3-0 in the tiebreak. With the Serbian not taking much time, he raced to take a 6-1 lead and comfortably sealed his victory with Raonic netting the ball.