Milos Raonic beats Rafael Nadal in Indian Wells quarter-final

  • Published
Milos RaonicImage source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Milos Raonic had lost his previous five matches against Rafael Nadal

Milos Raonic saved three match points to beat Rafael Nadal in the quarter-finals of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.

The Canadian lost the first set but fought back to win the match 4-6 7-6 (12-10) 7-5 in just under three hours.

Raonic will now play four-time champion Roger Federer in Saturday's semi-final after the Swiss comfortably beat Czech Tomas Berdych 6-4 6-0.

In the other semi-final, Britain's Andy Murray plays top seed Novak Djokovic.

Murray's match starts at 18:00 GMT with the Raonic-Federer following, but not starting before 20:00.

Raonic fired 18 aces and hit 48 winners, to Nadal's 25, to beat the three-time Indian Wells champion.

"I'm very happy with it, but I don't let myself get caught up because this isn't where it ends," said the 24-year-old. "There is a lot more that I want to achieve this week."

Meanwhile, Nadal, 28, took positives from the defeat. He said: "I was able to be very focused, playing with positive energy for three hours, so that's great news for me, because that's the way I competed during all of my career."

Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Roger Federer earned his first straight-sets win over Berdych since 2011 in Paris

Raonic's semi-final opponent Federer, 33, is chasing a record fifth title in the desert.

Federer won 13 of 14 points at the net, never faced a break point on his serve, and broke Berdych four times in the match, including three times in the second set.

Around the BBC

Related internet links

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.