Milos Raonic and Miomir Kecmanovic advanced through a topsy-turvy second section of the draw to battle for a spot in the Indian Wells semifinals. The winner will go up against either Dominic Thiem or Gael Monfils.
Prior to the tournament, few could have guessed that at this stage in the event, the two men left standing in the second section of the draw would be Milos Raonic and Miomir Kecmanovic. That would be in part because Kecmanovic, a Serbian player ranked 130th in the world, got into the tournament as a lucky loser when No. 5 seed Kevin Anderson was forced to withdraw. Lucky loser to a Masters 1000 quarterfinalist? Not bad for a week’s work.
Alhough it’s impressive, Kecmanovic’s run doesn’t have quite the zing that Stefanos Tsitsipas had in Toronto last year–when he defeated four top-10 players en route to the final. The Serb had a little help. His highest-ranked opponent so far is world No. 32 Laslo Djere, and Yoshihito Nishioka retired after the first set of their fourth-round match with a back injury.
No. 13 seed Raonic has similarly benefitted from the rather bizarre series of top half upsets. His path to the quarters included Sam Querrey, Marcos Giron, and Jan-Lennard Struff. And, of course, his quarterfinal opponent not only lost his final match in qualies, but he is also a player the Canadian has already beaten in 2019.
Raonic and Kecmanovic met on the hard courts of Brisbane, where Raonic won in straight sets. The former Wimbledon runner-up will be favored, if only because Kecmanovic has been pretty much untried at the tour level until this week. The Serb is still a teen (age 19), and he has had reasonable success in qualies. He managed to qualify for both Brisbane and the Australian Open in January before moving onto a series of Challenger events.
Cheryl pick: Raonic in 2
Ricky pick: Raonic in 2
[polldaddy poll=10264457]
Milos in straight.
Raonic in 2
2
The luckiest loser’s luck runs out here, unless Raonic comes down with some ailment, which is not out of the question. R in 2 easy sets.