Milos Raonic will be trying to book a spot in his first-ever Grand Slam final when he takes the court at the Australian Open on Friday. Standing in his way is four-time Aussie Open runner-up Andy Murray.
Andy Murray and Milos Raonic will be going head-to-head for the seventh time in their careers when they square off in the semifinals of the Australian Open on Friday night. They have split their six previous encounters at three wins apiece, and they are 2-2 against each other on hard courts. Their most recent showdown came last spring on the clay courts of Madrid, where Murray prevailed 6-4, 7-5.
That was the last time Raonic played until Queen’s Club and Wimbledon, as he missed the rest of the clay-court swing because of minor foot surgery. He never got entirely back in gear throughout the remainder of 2015, slumped to 14th in the world, and failed to make a second consecutive trip to the World Tour Finals. Now healthy and with a new coach in Carlos Moya on board, Raonic is positively on fire to begin this season. The Canadian beat Roger Federer for the Brisbane title and he is still undefeated following Melbourne victories over Lucas Pouille, Tommy Robredo, Viktor Troicki, Stan Wawrinka, and Gael Monfils. Raonic upset Wawrinka in five sets and held off Monfils in four on Wednesday night.
Never a rarity, Murray has been a roller-coaster of emotion throughout this fortnight. But for the most part his progress on the tennis court has been straightforward. The second-ranked Scot punched his ticket into the last four by taking out Alexander Zverev, Sam Groth, Joao Sousa, Bernard Tomic, and David Ferrer. Only Sousa and Ferrer managed to steal the second sets of their respective contests, but Murray quickly restored order to the proceedings each time.
“I think I played well today,” Murray said after beating Ferrer. “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.”
That is where the No. 2 seed will have an obvious edge over his adversary on Friday, even though Raonic has improved his movement and baseline game. Murray also traditionally feasts on huge servers who showcase a more one-dimensional game than others. He is also an expert at changing the direction of the ball during points, especially with his down-the-line backhand, which exploits opponents that are not especially fleet of foot. Murray is 4-1 lifetime in Aussie Open semifinal matches, with his only loss having come to Novak Djokovic in a 2012 five-set classic.
Pick: Murray in 4
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