By Chris Oddo | Friday, May 8, 2015
Andy Murray kept the good times rolling in Madrid with a straight-sets victory over a hampered Milos Raonic.
Photo Source: Reuters
It didn’t seem fit to last and yet it nearly went the distance.
Andy Murray eased past a hobbled Milos Raonic on Friday to notch his seventh straight clay-court victory, 6-4, 7-5, and put himself one win from his first Masters 1000 on the surface.
Raonic, who pulled out of the Rome draw before play began in Madrid, was clearly slowed by the same foot injury that caused him to pull the plug in Monte-Carlo during the first set of his quarterfinal with Tomas Berdych.
The Canadian revealed more about his injury after the match to reporters:
In the early going the Canadian’s body language seemed to hint of his eventual withdrawal, but he stayed the course and worked his way into what ended up being a competitive affair. Murray didn’t face a break point in the opener and took it on the strength of a break in the ninth game.
But the Scot found himself in heaps of trouble while serving at 2-3 in the second set. Raonic had five break points to take the lead, but Murray was up to the task (he threw up a majestic lob to wiggle out of trouble at one point) and managed to level.
At 5-5, Murray took control, securing triple break point with a tattooed inside-out forehand then converting the death blow for a 6-5 lead.
It was all over but the shouting—and the stiffness in Raonic’s foot.
Murray will face Kei Nishikori in the semifinals on Saturday.
Notes, Numbers, Tweets
More on the Raonic foot injury, via French journalist Carole Bouchard: