Rafael Nadal's changed court positioning helped him knock off Raonic

Rafael Nadal says he changed his court positioning against Milos Raonic at the Australian Open, which helped him win in straight sets in their quarterfinal.

The Spaniard decided not to stand as far back to return as he did in their meeting two weeks ago in Brisbane, which Raonic won in three sets.

"Talking with Toni [Nadal], with Carlos [Moya], we know that we needed to change that," said Nadal, referring to his coaches.

Going into the match, their tactic had been to move up towards the baseline on some of the returns, but Nadal did so more frequently when he saw the approach working.

"I felt that I was putting some pressure on him,” the 14-time Grand Slam champion said, “so I decided to stay in almost all the time.”

Even during rallies, Nadal often stayed on the baseline, not allowing Raonic's pace to push him back.

"I feel very happy for my attitude and for the tennis," he said.

That, according to his opponent, had a bigger impact than the return position.

"I don't think that was a big change, necessarily,” Raonic said. “It was more from the back. I just wasn't able to, sort of, push him back behind the baseline like I was able to do a few weeks ago.

"I thought, you know, he took the match to me. He did something a little bit different than he normally does."

Nadal plays Grigor Dimitrov in the semifinals.