Two days after upsetting Stan Wawrinka in five sets, Milos Raonic will be back in action to face Gael Monfils in the Australian Open quarterfinals on Wednesday. The winner will run into either Andy Murray or David Ferrer.
Milos Raonic and Gael Monfils will be going head-to-head for the third time in their careers when they battle for a place in the semifinals of the Australian Open on Wednesday night. Monfils has won both of their previous meetings, but they have not faced each other since 2013. The Frenchman prevailed 6-7(6), 6-4, 6-3 on the indoor hard courts of Stockholm in 2011 and 6-4, 6-2 on the grass of Halle two seasons later.
Now, however, Raonic is an established force at or near the top of the game. The Canadian currently registers 10 spots off his career-high ranking of No. 4 in the world, but that can be attributed almost entirely to a 2015 foot injury. He is back in business for 2016 and has arguably been the best player throughout the month of January. Raonic is a perfect 9-0 with a title in Brisbane (upset Roger Federer 6-4, 6-4 in the final) and victories this fortnight over Lucas Pouille, Tommy Robredo, Viktor Troicki, and Stan Wawrinka.
Monfils benefited from Rafael Nadal’s early elimination when he faced Alex Kuznetsov in the fourth round and got past the Russian in four sets. The 25th-ranked Frenchman preceded that victory with straight-set defeats of Yuichi Sugita, Nicolas Mahut, and veteran compatriot Stephane Robert. This is Monfils’ first trip to the Australian Open quarters and just third appearance in the quarters of a major outside Roland Garros.
Although Monfils has no reason to apologize for having enjoyed an extremely favorable draw, the bottom line is Raonic is more battle-tested and simply playing better tennis–better than Monfils and almost anyone else. The 2014 Wimbledon semifinalist has been borderline unbreakable aside from during a brief hiccup during his five-set upset of Wawrinka. It is hard to see Monfils staying focused in enough service games to stay within serious striking distance of his on-fire opponent.
Pick: Raonic in 3
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