Tennis news – Lucas Pouille ends Milos Raonic’s run to reach first Grand Slam semi in Melbourne

ByMichael Hincks

Updated 23/01/2019 at 08:34 GMT

Lucas Pouille reached his maiden Grand Slam semi-final after beating 16th seed Milos Raonic in four sets at the Australian Open.

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The Frenchman, without a victory in Melbourne going into the tournament, won 7-6 6-3 6-7(2) 6-4 and will face either Novak Djokovic or Kei Nishikori for a place in Sunday’s final.

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Raonic had overcome Nick Kyrgios, Stan Wawrinka and Alexander Zverev en route to the quarters, a sign he was returning to the levels that saw him reach the Australian Open semi-final and Wimbledon final in 2016.

However, the former world number three was no match for 28th seed Pouille, who struck 62 winners to just 24 unforced errors to enter unchartered territory.

Highlights: Pouille defeats Raonic in four to make semis

Raonic had never dropped a set against Pouille in their three previous meetings, and appeared to be coasting at 5-2 after breaking his opponent at the first time of asking.

However, Raonic failed to serve it out at 5-3 and then saved three more break points at 5-5 before a resurgent Pouille won the breaker 7-4 to clinch his first-ever set against the Canadian.

Pouille took that momentum with him into the second set, breaking in the fourth game and not offering Raonic a sniff on his way to taking a 2-0 lead.

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Raonic dug into his reserves to save two break points in both the seventh and ninth games as the third set headed for a tie-break, which he surprisingly won at a canter, dropping just two points.

But in the fourth set, Pouille reasserted his dominance, breaking in the tenth game to book his place in the semi-finals.

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