And that’s it for today. Thanks for your emails. I’ll leave you with Kevin Mitchell’s report from Melbourne on today’s men’s quarter-finals.
What we learnt from the women’s event earlier today was something we have been learning constantly for over a year: Ashley Barty is tough as hell. The quarterfinal between Barty and Petra Kvitova was easily the pick of the match-ups and for a set Barty was completely up against it as the sheer weight of Kvitova’s strokes took the racquet from her hands.
In any venue in the world, the way Barty weathered the storm in the first set and then marched to the victory was impressive. The fact that she is already handling everything that comes with being the world number one at home is sublime. Although she first reached the #1 ranking in May, a reminder of her inexperience: Barty had never beaten a top 20 player at a slam until her win over Alison Riske in the fourth round.
Barty has a good shot at reaching the final when she faces Sonia Kenin on Thursday, but she will be the last person to underestimate the 14th seed. Kenin is a resourceful player with great movement, insanely competitive instincts and a gem of a backhand. She was a breakout player last year and one of the most consistent players around. Even in her first ever slam semi-final, it is hard to imagine her not showing up just because of how she demands herself to always be present. She will offer very few errors and prod any gaps that Barty leaves. Barty will be able to dictate a lot more, but that comes with its own pressures. So far, she has handled every ounce of pressure in her stride. We’ll see how she’ll handle another step into the unknown.
As usual, Roger Federer vs Novak Djokovic will be a monumental occasion but it is difficult to remember the last time they faced each other with such contrasting form. Federer’s recovery from seven match points down today while struggling with a groin injury was beyond belief. By the beginning of the fourth set, he was barely moving and many wanted him to retire. The fact that he has dragged himself into the final after two desperate five sets reflects the aspect of his game that is constantly overshadowed by talk about how elegant his game is: his fight and his grit.
However, Federer is not playing good tennis in Melbourne. He is not serving well enough and he has struggled badly with his groundstrokes, particularly his forehand, throughout this tournament. The issues in his game are compounded by these slow conditions and balls that supposedly fluff up and slow down very quickly, allowing his opponents a lot more time to neutralise his aggression. Across the net, Djokovic is simply in better form than anyone else and he is rightfully the tournament favourite by a fair distance.
Federer is always realistic enough to recognise when he isn’t in his best form. However, if his body is healed enough by the semi-final, he will be hoping that being the underdog will allow him to play with less pressure and more freedom than in prior matches. He did so just a few weeks ago at the ATP Finals in London, after all. Today was a reminder to never count Federer out, but Djokovic will be incredibly difficult for anyone to beat this week.
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Finally, Djokovic was asked about his upcoming match with Roger Federer. It will be their 50th match, with Djokovic leading the series 26-23:
Obviously tremendous respect for Roger, everything he has achieved in this sport and he’s been one of the all-time greats and definitely one of my two biggest rivals. I’ve been saying this many times and I’ll repeat again: The match-ups against Roger and Rafa have made me the player I am today so I’m grateful that I’ve had so many great matches against those guys. And I hope I get to at least one match point [smiling].
It’s quite amazing what he has done this on the court today and it’s not the first time he has done that in his career. That’s why he is who he is. Let the better player win.
Sounds good to me.
Djokovic on his performance and his medical timeout to replace his contact lenses:
I wanna apologise to Milos because it’s not something you see often... It was not intentional or tactical. It was just something I had to do. [During] those games I couldn’t see much.
I felt great on the court. I thought I was very focused. First couple of sets went exactly the way I wanted to go. One break was enough each set and I was quite comfortable serving. That was obviously encouraging playing against Milos.
I knew that the two key elements in the game would be the return, how many balls I can get back in play, trying to get in the rally and get him moving around the court. And the second one was how efficiently could I hit my spots with my serve? I think I did a good job in the first two sets. I was fortunate to get out of trouble in the third, but I played a perfect tiebreak so it was a great performance.
Djokovic was in tears after being asked about Kobe Bryant, who he forged a close bond with and considered a mentor. The Serb had spoken about their relationship just a day before his passing:
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Milos Raonic didn’t really stand a chance. The contrast between the two is stark: Raonic’s core strengths are limited to his serve and forehand, while Djokovic seems to be expanding his game with every match.
He returned fantastically well against one of the best returners in the world, but he also held serve with ease and faced only two break points. He defended and moved as well as ever, but he also snatched the decisive 3-1 point in the tiebreak with a confident foray to the net. Djokovic is clearly playing the best tennis of the remaining players in his home court and it is going to take something mind-blowing to defeat him.
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Novak Djokovic beats Milos Raonic 6-4 6-3 7-6(1) to reach semis
A fantastic performance from the defending champion to reach the semis. He faces Roger Federer next.
Third set: Novak Djokovic 6-4 6-3 6-6 (*5-1) Milos Raonic: Not the greatest start from Raonic, who dumped a forehand in the net to hand over the first mini-break immediately. After flitting to a 3-0* lead behind his two serves, Djokovic switched things up at 3-1 by chasing down the net and burying a great pair of volleys. With a big unreturned serve, he is two points away.
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Third set: Novak Djokovic 6-4 6-3 6-6 Milos Raonic: The third set will be decided by a tiebreak. After that desperate, brilliant hold from Raonic, Djokovic stepped to the baseline and delivered a swift love hold with some excellent serving. That was a statement.
Djokovic leads Raonic 6-1 in tiebreaks.
Third set: Novak Djokovic 6-4 6-3 *5-6 Milos Raonic: With his back to the wall, Raonic just pulled out a sublime hold to keep himself in the match. Djokovic finally made his move, tightening up his return and offering no errors, bringing up four separate break points in an endless deuce game.
Raonic saved the first three with three huge service winners, then he connected with a brilliant forehand drive volley winner on the fourth. With some more big serving, he finally escaped.
Third set: Novak Djokovic 6-4 6-3 5-5* Milos Raonic: Djokovic doesn’t seem entirely focused here. He is still squinting between points and trying to focus his eyes. But at 30-30, two points away from being forced to a fourth set, he slipped in a perfect sliding ace.
Djokovic was pushed back to deuce, but he snapped back into gear immediately, bringing himself to game point with a good serve. He held by winning a long point with a beautiful angled forehand passing shot after an equally lovely drop shot. It would be nice to do anything in life that well while not entirely focused.
Reminder: Roger Federer is old (for a tennis player)
At 38 yrs, 178 days, @rogerfederer is oldest man to reach the @AustralianOpen SFs since Ken Rosewall (42 yrs, 68 days) in January 1977. #Federer is also oldest #GrandSlam semi-finalist since @JimmyConnors (39yrs, 6 days) at 1991 @USOpen.
— ATP Media Info (@ATPMediaInfo) January 28, 2020
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Third set: Novak Djokovic 6-4 6-3 *4-5 Milos Raonic: Raonic seals a rare love hold with a couple of big serves and then a couple of aces. Djokovic didn’t even move during those final two aces and he is still shaking his head towards his team. He is now using some eye drops provided by the trainer.
Still, a great effort for Raonic to maintain his concentration after the break.
As Djokovic goes off to change his contact lenses, the break is now officially a medical timeout. But he is back.
Third set: Novak Djokovic 6-4 6-3 4-4* Milos Raonic: Novak Djokovic holds to level and now he has invented a new rule on the spot - a contact lens break. He has gone off-court to change them. “I can’t see,” says Djokovic.
Third set: Novak Djokovic 6-4 6-3 *3-4 Milos Raonic: Raonic is moving to the net a lot more now. He has had some success, but the problem is that these conditions are extremely slow. Not only are the courts slower and the Melbourne nights quite cooler right now, many players have said that the balls fluff up too much after a few games and then slow down At 15-15, Djokovic demonstrated this by deflecting a great forehand approach shot from Raonic before threading in an easy crosscourt passing shot.
From 15-30 down, Raonic found a couple of big serves and then held with an overhead after sublime point of his own.
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Here is Kevin Mitchell’s updated piece on Federer’s sublime win.
As Djokovic marches through another hold for a 6-4 6-3 3-3* lead, here is that mind-blowing defensive lob.
This level of tennis is just sensational 🤯@DjokerNole | #AusOpenpic.twitter.com/eCM0Gj2uir
— ATP Tour (@atptour) January 28, 2020
Third set: Novak Djokovic 6-4 6-3 *2-3 Milos Raonic: Raonic flits through his first love hold of the match to inch ahead once more. He is actually holding more efficiently in this set, throwing in a couple of serve and volleys and hitting his spots better than ever.
Third set: Novak Djokovic 6-4 6-3 2-2* Milos Raonic: Djokovic holds through a deuce game. We haven’t seen much of Djokovic’s defence through all of this serving and returning, but the crowd finally saw a moment of glory: Raonic chased down a decent Djokovic drop shot and responded with a firm crosscourt forehand into the corner. That would have been Raonic’s point against most players, but instead Djokovic tracked it down and came up with a sublime defensive lob at full stretch. The point ended with Djokovic drawing Raonic into the net and slipping a backhand passing shot.
It took a couple of game points, but Djokovic found a big serve and moved on.
The doubles players are currently shaking in terror at thought of having to face a Djokovic in this form.
.@DjokerNole is in such good nick he could win the doubles on his own.
— Kevin Mitchell (@kevinmitchell50) January 28, 2020
Third set: Novak Djokovic 6-4 6-3 *1-2 Milos Raonic: Raonic opens the third set with a second uneventful hold, sealed with an unreturned body serve. This has not happened much today and he should cherish the feeling.
Third set: Novak Djokovic 6-4 6-3 1-1* Milos Raonic: Raonic hasn’t always helped himself on the big points today. This time, he pushed Djokovic to 30-30 and then a forehand error from the Serb offered him a rare break point.
Djokovic found a first serve but didn’t place it nearly as well as he wanted to. No matter, Raonic missed the return. At deuce, Raonic then missed a forehand error from a neutral position. Djokovic was never going to let those gifts go to waste and and so the Serb completed his hold with a big service winner.
Third set: Novak Djokovic 6-4 6-3 *0-1 Milos Raonic: A solid hold from Raonic to open the third set. Two aces in the game, sealed with a sweeping move to the net and a simple volley winner. The one certainty is that he is not going to give up.
Yep, this has been an exemplary performance for Djokovic. After two sets he has only hit 6 unforced errors and this is probably a rare instance where the scoreline seems tighter than it is.
This is a tennis clinic from Djokovic. He's making Raonic, a solid player, look decidedly average. One set away from a 50th career meeting with Federer... #AusOpen
— Nathan Salt (@NathSalt1) January 28, 2020
Novak Djokovic leads Milos Raonic 6-4 6-3
With another dominant service game, Djokovic flits to a two set lead. Despite not quite matching the exemplary serving stats of the first set, he breezed through his service games without conceding a break point and broke serve early. No trouble whatsoever.
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Second set: Novak Djokovic 6-4 *5-3 Milos Raonic: After plenty of enormous serving, Raonic was en-route to his first love game of the match. But Novak Djokovic is petty and so, with the score at 40-0, he connected with just one beautiful return to force a point out of Raonic. He will now serve for a two set lead.
Second set: Novak Djokovic 6-4 5-2* Milos Raonic: Djokovic edges back ahead to move within a game of taking set two. The defending champ hasn’t allowed himself many moments of flair today, but he produce a glorious dropshot early on to move to 40-0 and things seemed to be flowing.
Instead, Raonic dragged him back to deuce by utilising his slice far more frequently, forcing errors with a series of backhand slices. But Djokovic remained calm at deuce, even when a couple of supporters loudly applauded a missed first serve and forced a double fault, eventually closing out the game on his third game point. One more to go.
Second set: Novak Djokovic 6-4 *4-2 Milos Raonic: A much better service game from Raonic there, sealed with an ace out wide. Djokovic didn’t seem too fussed though. He now has the break and the priority is taking care of his own service games.
It’s not just me saying that 2-1 service game was dire. When your one strength is serving, I’m afraid you really can’t afford to miss them.
Djokovic breaks for 6-4, 3-1.
— José Morgado (@josemorgado) January 28, 2020
That was a terrible service game from Raonic, who put 3 of 12 first serves.
Second set: Novak Djokovic 6-4 4-1* Milos Raonic: In the blink of an eye, Djokovic consolidates the hold for 15 with a stream of big serves.
Second set: Novak Djokovic 6-4 *3-1 Milos Raonic: Djokovic breaks! Raonic opened his service game with some rancid serving - he only managed one first serve in his opening five points and that just isn’t compatible with competing well against Novak Djokovic. At 30-30, Djokovic took advantage of another second serve and strolled into the net, picking off an easy backhand volley for break point.
Raonic saved the break point courageously, engaging Djokovic in a rare rally, moving him from side to side and then drilling a forehand winner down the line. He managed to save another break point with a slick serve-forehand 1-2 punch. But on the third, Djokovic came up with a moment of pure magic, slipping a lovely angled backhand passing shot and then sweeping up the point to break. It’s difficult to see a way back for Raonic at the moment.
.@rogerfederer doesn't remember all 7️ match points Sandgren had.
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 28, 2020
"I could have blinked at the wrong time and shanked and that would have been it. I was definitely incredibly lucky today." #AO2020 | #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/bvyDNSgAua
Second set: Novak Djokovic 6-4 2-1* Milos Raonic: For once, Raonic managed to play a series of points in Djokovic’s service game on his term, but the results were mixed: Raonic produced two excellent forehand winners in succession to bring him to 30-30, then he committed two routine forehand errors to hand Djokovic the game. Still, a more positive start to this second set for the Canadian. Djokovic isn’t quite as sharp and ruthless as he was for much of the first set.
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Second set: Novak Djokovic 6-4 *1-1 Milos Raonic: The first simple hold for Milos Raonic in what feels like years. Enormous serving throughout, sealed with Raonic’s second ace of the game. He sure would like many more holds like that.
Second set: Novak Djokovic 6-4 1-0* Milos Raonic: Novak Djokovic opens with a solid hold to 30. At 30-30, after a couple of sloppy errors, Djokovic found an easy unreturned serve. He sealed the hold by drawing Raonic into a long rally and drawing out a forehand error.
First set stats:
Novak Djokovic: 7 winners, 3 unforced errors.
Milos Raonic: 12 winners, 18 unforced errors.
Djokovic lost 6 points on his serve. Raonic lost 20
First set: Novak Djokovic 6-4 Milos Raonic: It took multiple break points across four of Raonic’s five service games and one almighty fight from the Canadian at the death, but Djokovic finally nabs the first set. Raonic saved the first set point with an unreturned serve, he saved the second set point with a bold, impressive inside out forehand winner and he saved the third set point with a 135 mph.
On the fourth set point, Raonic missed a first serve and Djokovic ground him down with deep, early strokes, until a Raonic forehand finally flew wide. Phew.
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First set: Novak Djokovic 5-4* Milos Raonic: After another tough Raonic service game, Djokovic breezes through another quick hold on his own serve.
Nine games later, these rallies are unsurprisingly short and staccato. Big serving, serve-forehand combos and little else. Can Raonic hold on until the tiebreak?
First set: Novak Djokovic *4-4 Milos Raonic: Raonic comes through yet another service game by saving break point. From 30-30, Djokovic brought up break pound well to a lucky net cord from the Canadian, sweeping forward to the net and forcing an error. Raonic responded with two big unreturned serves to bring up game point. Djokovic scuppered the first with a great return and then Raonic sprayed a forehand wide on the second. However, Raonic eventually connected with two consecutive serve-forehand 1-2 punches in succession to hold. This is extremely tough but it’s still on serve.
First set: Novak Djokovic 4-3* Milos Raonic: It took Raonic 14 points to win his first point on Djokovic’s serve, but when he did, he made it count by quickly generating his first break point at 30-40. Djokovic helped out with a couple of sloppy errors, including a weak forehand into the net at 30-30. How did he react? Three unreturned serves to hold.
First set: Novak Djokovic *3-3 Milos Raonic: Another break point, but another resilient hold from Raonic to level. Djokovic moved up 0-30 after a long exchange ended with a brilliant inside-in forehand winner. Raonic pegged Djokovic back to 30-30 with some big serving, but then Djokovic slipped an angled backhand passing shot after Raonic failed to put away a forehand drive volley.
From break point down, Djokovic put a foot wrong for the first time, dumping a routine slice into the net. Raonic received the gift with open arms, slamming down two big serves to seal the hold.
First set: Novak Djokovic 3-2* Milos Raonic: Moments after Raonic’s struggle of a service game, Djokovic stepped up to the net and breezed through his third love game in a row to start the match. There was a nice forehand down the line winner from behind the baseline at 15-0 and a smart move to the net at 40-0, forcing an error. Most importantly, there was just great serving.
First set: Novak Djokovic *2-2 Milos Raonic: We are just a few games in, but Raonic has already been forced to grind through a tough hold, this time saving three break points. From 30-15, Raonic missed a first serve and was immediately punished with two devastating returns that landed low at his feet. In the tug of war that followed, Raonic saved two more break points, each time landing huge first serves. Finally, he was able to hold serve for 2-2 with a vicious service winner.
👀@rogerfederer has won his last 6⃣ five-set matches here.
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 28, 2020
2020 quarterfinals: def. Sandgren 🇺🇸
2020 third round: def. Millman 🇦🇺
2018 final: def. Cilic 🇭🇷
2017 final: def. Nadal 🇪🇸
2017 semifinal: def. Wawrinka 🇨🇭
2017 fourth round: def. Nishikori 🇯🇵#AO2020 | #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/DKzI7RLXDl
First set: Novak Djokovic 2-1* Milos Raonic: Another problem for Raonic is that it is even tougher to break Djokovic’s serve now. He has opened the match with 8 points in a row, the second game sealed with an unreturned serve followed by an easy serve-forehand combo. Back to Milos.
First set: Novak Djokovic *1-1 Milos Raonic: That was a good hold from Raonic to open. He missed four first serves yet won three points behind them. He crushed a nice point-ending forehand down-the-line from behind the baseline at 15-15, then he smashed a serve-forehand 1-2 at 30-15. He held with a big unreturned body serve.
Remember all the worries and discussions about air quality?
Within the limits still, but this is the highest number we’ve seen on the board so far during #AusOpen main draw. pic.twitter.com/rqQI6dVNo4
— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) January 28, 2020
First set: Novak Djokovic 1-0* Milos Raonic: A big question before the match was about whether Djokovic would continue to slam down his second serves as hard as he has done in Australia this year. He answered that question swiftly with a 181kmh second serve. A quick love hold for the Serb to begin, sealed by a slice backhand into the net from Raonic.
The players are on-court. Djokovic, who was a friend of Kobe Bryant, has a tribute written on his tracksuit.
Raonic on recovering his form after so many injuries last season:
Yeah, I do. I didn’t play much tennis last year, so I think for me the toughest part in this offseason was I knew I did six good weeks of training and I knew it would sort of come together.
I was hoping I would play well in the first week of the year, but that didn’t happen. I knew I had to be sort of patient for it to come together.
I’m glad it’s paying off pretty early. And, you know, now I have to find a way to continue playing well in this tournament and after that find a way for continuity and try to create some momentum so I can do this week in and week out without having to take long breaks in between and sort of regressing my training and then having to pick up my training again.
It would be nice to be able to consistently train, and then that way I don’t have to really train as hard, because my level isn’t falling off because I haven’t been bedridden or sitting on a couch for weeks at a time.
Here is Raonic last week on what he does well when he has been able to trouble Djokovic:
I get myself in a lot of, at least putting in a lot of returns. He sort of feels like he has to work on those games.
You know, I have gotta serve well. I don’t know if it was the last time we played, but Cincinnati I had more of my opportunities than most times. I think I was up a break in each set. So I have got to be sharp in those moments if I can create them and if they arise.
So, what do does this match-up have in store? As most already know, Milos Raonic is one of the biggest servers in the world and possibly of all time. He has not lost his serve so far in Melbourne. He will look to take care of his service games as well as he can with his huge serve, taking control of points with his forehand and moving into the net whenever possible. Clearly, he has been very effective doing so in Melbourne and it is always pleasing to see him performing so well at the net, a part of the court that is not natural for him but that he has converted into a strength through hard work.
The problem is that, across the net, he is facing arguably the best returner of all the time, who also possesses some of the best defence and passing shots in the game. Their results and the fact that Djokovic has been able to break serve in the vast majority of their sets (only 6 of Djokovic’s 21 sets won against Raonic have gone to tiebreaks) suggests that Djokovic knows Raonic’s patterns and can unsettle the Canadian’s serve. It will take one of the matches of Raonic’s career for him to win.
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Here are the earlier reports from Kevin Mitchell on quarterfinal day.
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Federer after his incredible win.
⛷or 🎾?@rogerfederer might need to rethink his priorities 😂#AO2020 | #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/MnKdiI4eH0
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 28, 2020
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Preamble
Hello! Welcome to night nine of our coverage from the Australian Open. A few moments ago, an injured Roger Federer’s completed sn absurd win from 7 match points down in the fourth set to beat Tennys Sandgren in 5 sets.
There is just one match on the night match schedule today as Novak Djokovic steps up to face a rejuvenated Milos Raonic. Judging by the head to head, this will likely not be quite as dramatic. Djokovic will be going for a 10th win against Raonic. He has never lost to the Canadian and Raonic has managed to win only two sets in those 9 prior meetings. Even against an opponent as great as Novak Djokovic, that is a terrible result.
Raonic does have some reason to feel hopeful. This has been a tough few months and even years for the Canadian as his attempts to compete at the top of the game have been constantly halted by injuries, but in Melbourne he has been healthy and he has produced some of the best tennis in the tournament. He is yet to drop a set, taking out 6th seed Tsitsipas in the third round and former US Open champion Marin Cilic in the fourth round. Against Djokovic, their most recent encounter, a tight three-setter in Cincinnati 2018, was his best showing to date and he will be trying to convince himself that he can build from that.
Across the net, Djokovic has been the in-form player so far this year after guiding his Serbia to victory in the inaugural ATP Cup. He has been efficient here, losing only one set so far. But the most notable part of his start to the season has been his serve. Djokovic has been an excellent server for some time but it seems to have elevated to another level this week. He has added pace to both his first and second serves, and against two of the best returners in the world, Yoshihito Nishioka and Diego Schwartzman, his serve was untouchable. Now he faces one of the best servers in the game, we will see if it is the same.
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