Seven-time champion Novak Djokovic has swept past Milos Raonic on Tuesday night to set a blockbuster 50th showdown with Roger Federer in the Australian Open semifinals.
Through to his 37th Grand Slam semifinal – his eighth at Melbourne Park – Djokovic was at his clinical best for two sets before biding his time to eke out a 6-4 6-3 7-6(1) result against the No.32 seed.
The pair’s twilight showdown was delayed as a result of Federer’s miracle match point-saving feats earlier against Tennys Sandgren.
When Djokovic and Raonic took the court for their 10th career meeting, the world No.2 set about ensuring this clash would head the way of their previous nine – all settled in his favour.
Raonic only contested 14 events last season, including just two of the four majors, as he battled a string of injuries.
He had not been broken or dropped a set in his first four outings this fortnight, including impressive wins over last year’s semifinalist Stefanos Tsitsipas and former world No.3, Marin Cilic.
His fourth-round triumph over Cilic prompted the Croatian to declare his vanquisher was playing well enough to win the tournament.
Djokovic soon dismissed any notion of that.
Not even blurred vision – the result of dirty contact lenses in the third set – could derail his straight-sets passage through to the last four.
“I apologise to Milos again. It was not something you see often,” Djokovic said of his vision predicament. “It was not a changeover moment. It was not intentional or tactical, just something I had to do. Those few games I couldn’t see much and had to change those lenses.”
After being tested in his opening round against big-hitting German Jan-Lennard Struff, Djokovic has honed his focus – blurred or not – with each round and has not dropped a set in his past four outings.
Raonic was left scrambling to stay alive time and again as Djokovic’s greatest strength – his return of serve – nullified the Canadian’s monster deliveries.
“I felt great on the court. Thought I was very focused in the first couple of sets, one break was enough each set,” Djokovic said. “Quite comfortable serving, that was very encouraging serving, I thought that would be two key elements in the game – the return, get him moving around the court and secondly, how efficiently I’d hit my spots on the court … It was a great performance.”
Raonic was forced to fend off break points in three straight service games to hold for 4-all in the opening set.
And with Djokovic reading his serve, it seemed only a matter of time before he seized the initiative.
The No.2 seed pounced on his fourth chance of the 10th game when Raonic fired a forehand wide to take a one-set advantage.
It snapped a run of 62 straight holds for the Canadian at this Australian Open, and when a break in the fourth game of the second set ensued, it gifted the Serbian breathing space as he surged to a two-set lead.
“You feel it not because it comes back necessarily quicker, but the fact is that he gets his racquet on a lot of returns,” Raonic said. “That's the part. He just makes you play more and more.”
‘Lensgate’ arose midway through the third set and proved the only contentious issue on a cool Melbourne night.
“Are you allowed to do that?” Raonic asked the chair umpire. “I could tell you I have contacts and do it.”
As it turned out Djokovic was well within the rules, and after taking a medical timeout to change his contact lenses he returned blinking, yet still bludgeoning anything Raonic landed short.
Only twice had the Canadian taken a set from his opponent, and when Djokovic leapt into an off-forehand winner to bring up five match points in the tiebreak, that statistic looked destined to stand.
A scrambling backhand into the net from Raonic sealed the result and ensured Djokovic had now beaten 21 opponents at least 10 times.
One of those 21 is his semifinal opponent Federer, a player that Djokovic owns a 26-23 ledger against.
“I know that whenever we get a chance to play each other, we understand it takes a big effort and it's required from us to come up with the best game in order to win against each other,” Djokovic said.
“Wimbledon last year, he had two match points, he was one shot away from winning that match. It's not like I've been dominating the matchups.
“I've had success against him … in Grand Slams in particular. But Roger is Roger. You know that he's always going to play on such a high level, regardless of the surface.
“He loves to play these kind of matches, big rivalries, semis, finals of Grand Slams.”
It was a perfect 10 for Djokovic against Raonic. Now his sights are set on a happy 50th against Federer.