By Adrianna Outlaw | Wednesday, July 28, 2021
World No. 115 Brandon Nakashima edged top-seeded Milos Raonic 5-7, 6-3, 7-6(4) to reach his second straight quarterfinal at the Truist Atlanta Open.
Photo credit: Abierto Los Cabos Facebook
Brandon Nakashima continues to defuse explosive servers with calm court sense.
The 19-year-old Nakashima converted his fifth match point edging top-seeded Milos Raonic 5-7, 6-3, 7-6(4) to advance to his second straight quarterfinal at the Truist Atlanta Open.
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Empowered by his run to the Los Cabos final last week, the 115th-ranked Nakashima scored his first career Top 30 win reaching his third career quarterfinal.
Nakashima, who knocked off Sam Querrey, Jordan Thompson and John Isner en route to the Los Cabos final last week, smacked 13 aces and did not commit a double fault in a two hour, 12-minute triumph.
Playing his first match since he lost to eventual-champion Hubert Hurkacz in a third-set tiebreaker at the Miami Open last March, Raonic showed signs of rust and point-ending power. The former world No. 3 whipped 27 aces but also committed 10 double faults, chased his service toss on occasion and looked flat-footed at times.
Wild card Raonic scored his second break for a 6-5 lead and served out the opening set at love.
Inactivity was evident as Raonic hit successive double faults and slapped a forehand error to gift the break and a 4-2 second-set lead to Nakashima. The American teenager torched an ace down the middle to seal the second set and force a decider.
Chasing his service toss, Raonic fell into a double break point hole to start the third set. Reading the wide serve, Nakashima flicked back a stretched return coaxing a netted reply to break for a 1-0 lead in the decider.
Serving for the quarterfinals at 5-4, Nakashima tightened up a bit and Raonic hung tough saving two match points. Nakashima sent his trademark shot, the two-handed backhand, beyond the baseline on both match points. Nakashima netted a volley and knocked a forehand into net as Raonic broke back to level after 10 games.
The teenager fought off a deep drive redirecting a forehand down the line to force the final-set tiebreaker.
Cleaning up his game in the tie breaker, Nakashima played a cleaner break as Raonic missed a drop shot and netted a return to trail 2-4. Nakashima slid the wide serve and used a Raonic backhand error to earn four more match points at 6-2. On his fifth match point, Nakashima snapped off a sharp serve to end it.
Nakashima will face Thompson for the second week in a row with a semifinal spot on the line. Thompson topped German qualifier Peter Gojowczyk 7-6(6), 6-4 on the strenght of 18 aces.
Earlier, Taylor Fritz fended off Stevie Johnson 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-1 fighting into his fourth quarterfinal of the season. Fritz won 45 of 50 first-serve points and did not drop serve defeating Johnson for the third time in a row this summer after victories at Wimbledon and Los Cabos last week.
The 42nd-ranked Fritz will face either fourth-seeded Reilly Opelka or Bjorn Fratangelo for a place in the final four.