Raonic edges Querrey to reach Indian Wells semi-finals

Canadian Milos Raonic struggled at times against American Sam Querrey but made better use of his break-point opportunities in a 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 victory in quarter-final action at the BNP Paribas Open here.

In a battle of two of tennis' biggest servers, Querrey won more overall points (84-83) but paid dearly for losing his serve at key moments on Friday, reports Efe.

The 21st-ranked American broke Raonic in the first game of the match and made that lead hold up until the 10th game, when he had a chance to serve out the opening set at 5-4.

Instead, Querrey played a poor game that ended when he sent a slice backhand over the baseline.

Two games later, the American had an opportunity to force a tiebreaker but ended up losing serve once again when Raonic struck a backhand return winner on set point.

Querrey bounced back quickly though, easily winning the second set by breaking Raonic's serve at love in the third game and getting a second break in the seventh game when the Canadian double-faulted at 30-40.

The players stayed on serve in the third set until the eighth game, when Raonic ran around a Querrey second serve on break point and blasted an inside-out forehand winner to give himself a 5-3 lead and a chance to serve out the match.

The world No. 38 managed to do that in the ensuing game but not before first staving off three break points, erasing the first with a big serve that forced a return over the baseline and the second two with aces.

Raonic then clinched the victory and a berth in the semi-finals of this elite ATP World Tour Masters 1000 hard-court event by striking a forehand winner on his second match point.

The Canadian was rewarded for his aggressive play throughout the contest, including numerous serve-and-volley plays that negated Querrey's plans to block back his opponent's serve.

For the match, Raonic committed more unforced errors (25-17) but made up for it by hitting 17 aces and striking a higher overall number of winners (43-29).

By reaching the semi-finals, the former world No. 3 is well on his way to reversing a slide that saw his ranking fall to No. 40 last month.

--IANS

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