Raonic silences Monfils to reach second career Grand Slam semifinal

MELBOURNE, Australia—Melbourne was ravaged by angry thunderstorms Wednesday afternoon, but under the roof inside Rod Laver Arena roof later that night, only calmness remained. Milos Raonic took to the court to face Gael Monfils for a chance to become the first Canadian to reach the Australian Open semifinals.

From start to finish, Raonic was stoic and rock solid both in expression and in execution to win 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

After his 2015 season was hindered by injuries and foot surgery, Raonic saw his ranking fall outside of the Top 10. So far in 2016, he is 9-0. At a warm-up tournament in Brisbane, Raonic beat Roger Federer in the final and rocked up to the first Grand Slam of the year as confident as ever.

“It’s a very positive thing if you look at the big picture. Right now in this moment it’s a great opportunity for me,” Raonic said.

Raonic is one of the least expressive yet most accessorized players on tour—he came equipped in an orange-highlighted New Balance kit, arm sleeve and, oddly enough, a mouth guard. As he explains it, it’s for problems caused by grinding his teeth.

There was little on-court grinding for Raonic once the match began. The 6’5” Canadian’s missile-like first serves buoyed him from the very start, with some topping out at 141 M.P.H. New coach Carlos Moya sat calmly in one corner while Raonic took advantage of two Monfils double faults to secure the first break and then the first set, 6-3.

Monfils managed to hold serve with more ease in the second set. A rare opening while returning gave Monfils a break when Raonic hit three forehand errors and a double fault. Soon, a 6-3 set was his.

Raonic's serve was unstoppable for the rest of the match. He was also comfortable using inside-out forehands and angled crosscourt shots to run the agile Frenchman ragged. Raonic also came to the net a lot more often—46 times to be exact—winning 31 of those net points.

“It was a tough [match] because I think [Raonic] served really good,” Monfils said. “Not even only first serve, but in second serve as well. I think his second serve was very hard to return.”

Monfils was broken in the third set fairly anticlimactically when a massive forehand return from Raonic landed on the line right by his feet. Monfils either let it go on purpose or just couldn’t move fast enough to react.

“I was creating a bunch of chances for myself,” Raonic said. “I made good use of a few of them. I then continued to make the most of those little leads.”

The coolness oozing from Raonic’s undisturbed expression seemed to tame the normally energetic Monfils, and even seemed to calm the crowd.

“I felt good, especially that I took care of the things I need to take care of,” Raonic said. “I was dictating I felt most of the time. I was hitting my shots well.”

The fourth and final set went by much like the previous set: Monfils was simply unable to find an answer for Raonic’s serves. Some second serves were even going by nearly as fast as the Frenchman's first serves. The inevitable break came at 2-2 for Raonic, and he kept his professional mannerism together until the very end.

Only after sealing the win with a huge forehand swinging volley winner did Raonic let himself react by letting out a roar as he became the first Canadian to reach the Australian Open semifinals.

Raonic got to the final four at Wimbledon in 2014, only to fall to Federer in straight sets, but he’ll look to go one step—or even two—farther this time around.

“I had a little bit of a disappointing semifinal two years ago,” Raonic said. “And sort of just want to change that story around and give myself another go with more experience and where I feel like I’m a better player than I was two years ago.”

After the match, Monfils gave a nod to Raonic’s improvements.

“I think he’s returning much better,” Monfils said. “He’s playing a bit faster from the baseline … He strikes the ball heavy with forehand, but I would say now his backhand getting much better. So he’s a tougher player now.”

That toughness will be tested in the next round by Andy Murray, who conquered David Ferrer in a four-set grinder earlier in the day.