Milos Raonic ensured he will keep on playing through the second week of the Australian Open on Thursday when he upset 2019 semifinalist Stefanos Tsitsipas to advance to the fourth round.
World No. 35 Raonic entered the match a significant underdog to Greece's Tsitsipas (world No. 6), but his near-untouchable serve led him to a 7-5, 6-4, 7-6(2) victory at Margaret Court Arena in Melbourne.
"Today was an incredible match for me," Raonic told the ATP Tour. "I was very happy with how things went. I enjoy the energy of playing on this court, and it's great to be healthy and playing well. I can take a lot of pleasure in this win."
Absolutely vintage Milos.
— Tennis Canada (@TennisCanada) January 24, 2020
Playing at his top level and crunching the ball off his serve and forehand, @milosraonic takes the second set 6-4 over Tsitsipas for a 2-sets-to-love lead at the #AusOpen.
Who’s still with us? ☕️ #SleepIsForTheWeak pic.twitter.com/yEqI9ODyMX
Raonic scored 19 aces, won 88 percent of first-serve points and 58 percent of his second-serve points throughout the three-set match. While Tsitsipas battled for two hours and thirty minutes, it was too much to overcome Raonic, who still stands as the lone Canadian remaining in singles competition.
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Raonic has advanced to the quarterfinal in four of the past five years at the Australian Open — and he has another chance to get there if he can beat Croatia's Marin Cilic on Saturday.
"I have always somehow figured out how to put it together here, especially if I have had the freedom to train well," Raonic said about playing at the Aussie Open. "I think when I have had the freedom to really focus on my body, not go from tournament to tournament, focus on training and doing my things well, and allowing myself to get confidence through that work, I have always managed to put things to a pretty presentable level I can be happy with.
"From there on, you've got to go out on court, fight, and it worked out well."
🄶🄸🄰🄽🅃 🅂🄻🄰🅈🄴🅁 ⚔️@milosraonic upsets sixth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, 7-5 6-4 7-6(2) to advance to the 2nd week at the #AusOpen for the 7th time. #AO2020 pic.twitter.com/CdzoL5riQc
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 24, 2020
Cilic (world No. 39) paved his way to the fourth round by upending France's Benoit Paire and Spain's Roberto Bautista Agut in his last two matches. He has experience playing deep into the tournament, including a run all the way to the final round in 2018. If Raonic beats him, he will make the quarterfinal round once again and meet either Diego Schwartzman or No. 2 seed Novak Djokovic.
"It's going to be tough. [Cilic has] won two very good matches," Raonic said. "I'm going to have to focus on my things. I think we're both going to be trying to move the other guy around, be the one dictating. It's going to be important for me to get ahead early in the points, take care of my serve and be the aggressor."