Impressive Milos Raonic beats Dominic Thiem 7-6 6-3 to reach the ATP World Tour Finals semis
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Updated 17/11/2016 at 22:03 GMT
Milos Raonic produced an impressive display to beat Dominic Thiem in their winner-takes-all clash at the ATP World Tour Finals at London’s O2 Arena.
Milos Raonic celebrates
Image credit: AFP
The big-serving Canadian was always the favourite to join Ivan Lendl group winner Novak Djokovic in the last four, and he fought off a spirited display from the Austrian starlet to triumph 7-6 6-3.
Raonic will now face either Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka or Kei Nishikori in one of Saturday's semi-finals as he continues his bid to become the year-end world number three.
The final match of the round-robin can often have various permutations, but this one was a simple win or bust scenario for both players.
Given what was on the line there was little to choose between them in the opening set as the 23-year-old Thiem continued to offer glimpses of why he is regarded by many as a star of the future.
Raonic dominated with his serve but was strangely off cue with his powerful forehand as neither player managed to rustle up a break point.
Thiem hit some sublime shots off either flank to lead 4-2 in the tie-break at the changeover, but Raonic roared back to take it 7-5 with his 11th ace of the contest on his second set point.
It was a bitter blow for the eighth seed and he started the second set flatly.
Raonic racked up triple break points and converted on the second as Thiem's backhand misfired wide.
The Canadian consolidated and almost ran away with it, but the man nicknamed the 'Dominator' rallied to stave off a double break and stay in touch.
It ensured the set remained competitive but, in truth, the Austrian never looked like making an impact on Raonic's thumping serve, failing to register a single break point throughout the encounter.
Raonic always appeared to be in control and broke again at 5-3, sealing the victory on a second match point in just over one and a half hours of keenly-contested tennis.
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