Pouille into first Grand Slam semifinal after four-set win over Raonic

Lucas Pouille kept his breakthrough run going at the Australian Open on Wednesday, putting on a returning display to beat Milos Raonic, 7-6 (4), 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-4, to reach his first Grand Slam semifinal.

Going into the match, the numbers definitely favored Raonic—not only had he been past the quarterfinals of Grand Slams three times, including reaching the Wimbledon final in 2016, but he had won all three of his previous meetings against Pouille (winning all seven sets they’d played, too).

Meanwhile, Pouille had lost both of his career quarterfinals, at Wimbledon and the US Open in 2016.

And early in the match, Raonic’s confidence showed—he broke easily in the second game en route to a 3-0 lead, and he held onto that break until he was a game away from the first set at 5-2.

But Pouille struck back—not only did he get the break back and sneak out the first set in a tiebreaker, he broke in the fourth game of the second set and rode that break to a two-sets-to-none lead.

Raonic put up resistance, storming through a tie-break to take the third set, but Pouille broke one last time with the Canadian serving to stay in the match at 4-5 in the fourth, Raonic hitting back-to-back backhand errors on the last two points to give Pouille the win after three hours and two minutes.

“I’m just very happy. I knew it would be a really tough match,” Pouille said in his on-court interview.

“We had a plan and I really tried to follow it today. I was good on the return, and I kept my serve almost the whole match—I’m not sure I’ll be able to return like this if I play against him again.”

Reaching his first Grand Slam semifinal at this year’s Australian Open is a stark contrast to his form coming in—not only did he lose in the first round of his only ATP-level lead-up event in Sydney, he also lost all three of his singles matches at the Hopman Cup exhibition event the week before.

“I’m trying to forget about the start of the year,” the 24-year-old Frenchman joked. “But we just kept working hard even after all the matches I lost in Hopman Cup and Sydney. I went back and kept training hard, taking it step by step and giving everything I have on every point, and here I am.

“I didn’t win a match before coming here, so I’m just very, very happy right now.”

He was then asked if it’s one of the greatest moments of his life.

“Definitely, definitely,” he replied.

After finishing 2016 and 2017 in the Top 20—at No. 15 and No. 18, respectively—Pouille dropped to No. 32 by the 2018 year-end rankings, falling in the first week of all four Grand Slams last year.

Things are definitely looking up Down Under, though.

“It came really fast when I did quarterfinals at Wimbledon and the US Open,” he said. “I didn’t win a lot of matches after that. Last year I lost a bit of joy on the court. But I’m starting a new adventure in my team now. It’s been a great thing. I’m really enjoying myself now. I’m really enjoying the moment.”

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