RAONIC BEATS THIEM TO REACH SEMIFINALS IN LONDON TENNIS, MURRAY AND SOARES CLINCH SEMIFINAL SPOT

Written by: Staff on 17th November 2016

RAONIC BEATS THIEM TO REACH SEMIFINALS IN LONDON TENNIS, MURRAY AND SOARES CLINCH SEMIFINAL SPOT

epa05635648 Milos Raonic of Canada in action against Dominic Thiem of Austria during their Men's singles match at the ATP World Tour Finals tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London, Britain, 17 November 2016. EPA/FACUNDO ARRIZABALAGA |

By Ricky Dimon

Milos Raonic became the second player to qualify for the semis at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals when he defeated Dominic Thiem 7-6(5), 6-3 in the last Group B round-robin match on Thursday night. Raonic fired 13 aces and did not face a single break point before prevailing in one hour and 30 minutes.

In what was basically a quarterfinal contest with both men needing a win to advance while a loss meant a plane flight out of London, Thiem had few–if any–chances. The world No. 9 got to deuce on Raonic’s serve only once (at 3-3 in the first set) and he survived a deuce game on his own serve at 5-6 to force a tiebreaker.

Dominic Thiem of Austria in action against Milos Raonic of Canada during their Men’s singles match at the ATP World Tour Finals tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London, Britain, 17 November 2016. EPA/FACUNDO ARRIZABALAGA

They took turns leading by mini-breaks in the decider. Thiem lost the first two points only to reel off four in a row, including two straight on Raonic’s serve at 2-1 and 2-2. Starting at 4-2, however, it went downhill for the Austrian. Raonic got the mini-break back for 3-4, took care of his next two service points, and seized another crucial return point at 5-4 with a perfect approach shot and overhead winner. He eventually clinched the set with his 11th ace at 6-5.

It was all but over when Raonic broke serve to begin the second. The Canadian seized a 0-40 advantage and converted his second break point on a backhand error by Thiem. For good measure, Raonic broke again to 5-3 to wrap up his victory in style.

“I did a lot of things quite well today,” the world No. 4 assessed. “I stepped up when I had an opportunity in the tiebreak. I stepped up at the beginning of the second set and the end of it. There’s a lot definitely to be proud of, playing under that kind of pressure, ’cause I really wanted to get out of the group stages and I wanted to give myself a chance in the semifinals.”

“First of all, I hope that I will be back here in the future,” Thiem said. “It’s one of the best tournaments. It was an amazing experience. I’m also happy that I won one match and that I still had the chance to go into the semifinals [in] the last match…. Of course I would prefer to win today and to play another match, but now [the offseason] is nice.”

Bruno Soares of Brazil (L) and Jamie Murray of Britain in action against Marcelo Melo of Brazil and Ivan Dodig of Croatia during their Men’s doubles match at the ATP World Tour Finals tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London, Britain, 17 November 2016. EPA/FACUNDO ARRIZABALAGA

In the night session’s doubles match, Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares completed their undefeated run through round-robin competition by beating Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo 6-3, 3-6, 10-6. The British-Brazilian pairing dropped a set for the first time this week but recovered in the super-tiebreaker to prevail in one hour and 10 minutes.

Murray and Soares clinched their spot in the semifinals simply by taking the opening set, as that guaranteed they would finish with a greater percentage of sets won than any other team in the group.

In their semifinal match on Saturday, Murray and Soares await the winner of Friday’s contest between the Lopez boys (Marc and Feliciano) and the American-South African duo of Rajeev Ram and Raven Klaasen. Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan secured the second seed from Group B and will face Henri Kontinen and John Peers in the other semifinal.