Milos Raonic put on a serving clinic in his Wimbledon quarterfinal match, ending the run of Sam Querrey, who had ousted Novak Djokovic in the third round, with a four-set victory. With the exception of a lull at the end of the third set, the Canadian was completely dominant on his own serve, barely losing points on his own serve, and scored some key return points to reach his second Wimbledon semifinal, and second major semifinal this year, with a 6-4, 7-5, 5-7, 6-4 victory.
Late break goes to Raonic
Raonic came out with a clear game plan, using his consistency and well-placed shots to keep Querrey on the move. The strategy gave him a break point in the second game, but the hard-hitting American saved it with an ace. After surviving the initial scare, Querrey would settle in on serve and start holding easily. However, the American was making no inroads on the Raonic serve.
Both men were holding comfortably throughout the set until the American found himself serving to stay in the set at 4-5. Despite leading 30-15, the game would slip away from Querrey and a backhand into the net gave Raonic a second break point, which was also a set point. Despite failing to put away some easy shots, the Canadian would break for the set when Querrey sent a shot long.
Another late break puts Raonic in control
Once again, Querrey was shaky in his first service game, blowing a 40-15 lead on his serve and needing to battle through a deuce just to get on the board. Just like the first set, both players were comfortable on serve until late in the set. A few poorly timed errors late in return games that could have given him some chances to break the Raonic serve came back to haunt Querrey when he served to send the set to a tiebreak at 5-6. He found himself trailing 15-40, double set point, and ripped a forehand into the net to give Raonic a two-sets-to-love lead.
Querrey returns the favour to extend match
The two men seemed to be trending in different directions in the third set, as Raonic became increasingly dominant on his own serve, while Querrey began to struggle with more regularity on his own serve. After surviving several deuce games, the American would be forced to save a break point at 3-4 with a forehand volley just to keep the set on serve. It the following game, Querrey managed to get to 30 for only the second time in the match on return.
Out of nowhere, a sloppy game from Raonic found the pair at 30-30 on the Canadian’s serve. A double fault gave Querrey his first break point of the match. A wild rally ended with the American chipping a volley past Raonic to seal his first break of the match. Serving for the set would not be easy, as Querrey would have to dig out of a 0-30 hole, but he pulled it off, closing the set with an ace.
Raonic breaks to reach semifinals
This time, it was Raonic who struggled early, missing a forehand at 30-30 to give Querrey a break point. But the Canadian saved it with a big serve and went on to hold. At 1-2, Querrey blew a 40-0 lead, double-faulting to allow Raonic back to deuce. Lucky for the American, the sixth seed struggled to get his forehand over the net on the multiple deuces and he was able to hold.
A double fault and a missed volley from Querrey gave Raonic a 0-30 lead in the next service game, but again the American dug himself out of the hole, but before being forced to fight through multiple deuces. In his next service game, now serving to stay in the match at 4-5, Querrey again fell behind 0-30. This time, he double-faulted at 15-30 to give Raonic double match point. A perfect return from the Canadian into Querrey’s feet forced the error that sent Raonic into his second career Wimbledon semifinal.
By the numbers
Raonic finished the match having won 87 percent of his first serve points and 71 percent of his second serve points. However, through the first two sets, the Canadian had only lost seven points in total on his own serve. He would finish only losing 20, a winning percent of 81 percent. He only faced two break points in the match, saving one. While Querrey was strong on serve, winning 81 percent of his first serve points and hitting 15 aces, two more than Raonic, he only saved two of five break points and lost 59 percent of his second serve points. He also committed 28 unforced errors to Raonic’s 16, while the Canadian hit 58 winners to Querrey’s 36.
Raonic now awaits the winner between Marin Cilic and the man who beat him last time he reached the last four at the All-England Club, seven-time champion Roger Federer.