ANDY MURRAY AND MILOS RAONIC JOIN NOVAK DJOKOVIC AND ROGER FEDERER IN THE AUSTRALIAN OPEN TENNIS 2016 SEMIFINALS

Written by: Staff on 27th January 2016

ANDY MURRAY AND MILOS RAONIC JOIN NOVAK DJOKOVIC AND ROGER FEDERER IN THE AUSTRALIAN OPEN TENNIS 2016 SEMIFINALS

epa05128531 Andy Murray of the United Kingdom reacts during his quarter final match against David Ferrer of Spain at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 27 January 2016. EPA/TRACEY NEARMY AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND OUT |

By Ricky Dimon

The top three players in the world will be a part of the Australian Open semifinals after Andy Murray held off David Ferrer 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-3 on Wednesday afternoon. Only the Stan Wawrinka-Rafael Nadal section of the draw did not go according to plan. Nadal lost right away to Fernando Verdasco, Wawrinka got upset by Milos Raonic in the fourth round, and Raonic ended being the one to advance after he fought past Gael Monfils 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Thursday night.

As usual, Ferrer threw everything he had at a heavily-favored opponent but did not quite have enough firepower to pull off an upset. A grueling second set saw the eighth-ranked Spaniard take it in a tiebreaker after one hour and 11 minutes of play.

But the effort to get back on level terms at one set all seemed to take a little bit out of the 33-year-old Spaniard, and the roof closing in the third set certainly did not help his chances. Murray, who hit 49 winners to Ferrer’s 23, eventually pulled away and sealed the deal in three hours and 20 minutes.

“I think I played well today,” Murray assessed. “I think today was probably the best match I played, especially in the second and third set. I started hitting the ball better from the back of the court. I felt like at the end of the match I was playing some good stuff, moving well.”

Milos Raonic of Canada plays a shot to Gael Monfils of France during their quarter final match at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 27 January 2016. EPA/DAVID CROSLING

Like the world No. 2, Raonic survived a second-set hiccup to get the job done in four sets. Monfils delivered a clean performance that featured 36 winners and only 17 unforced errors, but he managed to break the big-serving Canadian only once. One break for Raonic in each of the other three sets was enough for him to get the job done. The 14th seed finished with 10 aces, 47 winners, and 36 errors.

“It’s a very positive thing if you look at the big picture,” Raonic said when asked about being in the semifinals. “Right now in this moment alone it’s a great opportunity for me. I had a little bit of a disappointing semifinal two years ago (at Wimbledon), and sort of just want to change that story around and give myself another go with more experience and where I feel like I’m a better player than I was two years ago.”

He will get a chance to prove that against Murray on Friday night. The head-to-head series stands at 3-3, but Murray has won two in a row.