Milos Raonic became the second Canadian on Friday to advance to an ATP Tour event semifinal.
Earlier in the day, Felix Auger-Aliassime reached the semifinals of the Open 13 Provence in France after defeating Egor Gerasimov in straight sets. Late Friday night, it was Raonic's turn for a straight-sets victory as he defeated American player Steve Johnson 7-6(6), 6-3 at the Delray Beach Open in Florida.
Johnson's service game was poor in the opening set, although he managed to save six of seven break points against Raonic. He double-faulted three times and won just half his second-serve points. A 20 mph wind might have been a reason for his serving difficulties.
Defffffinitely think the wind caught that one 😅💨
— ATP Tour (@atptour) February 22, 2020
🎥: @TennisTV | #DBOpen pic.twitter.com/kE5uGCAIl7
Raonic, meanwhile, finished the set winning 77 percent of his service points.
Raonic broke Johnson twice in the second set as he jumped out to an early lead and didn't look back.
After the first set took an hour and one minute to complete, Raonic dispatched Johnson in the second in 37 minutes.
Raonic will face another American, Reilly Opelka, the world's No. 54 player, in the semifinals. This will be their second meeting; Raonic had the upper hand at Wimbledon last year, winning in straight sets.
Milos Making Moves 💯@milosraonic has yet to drop a set en route to his first SF since Stuttgart 2019. The 🇨🇦 faces Opelka next.#DBOpen pic.twitter.com/Qll0KbdgAl
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) February 22, 2020
The former world No. 3 player has bounced back in Delray Beach after being eliminated in his first match at the New York Open. He was looking to build off his strong showing at the Australian Open, where he reached the quarterfinals before losing to eventual champion Novak Djokovic.
The 29-year-old Raonic, now ranked 37th in the world, will look to improve his 4-3 season record Saturday night.