Tennis News

An intriguing quarter-final will be featured on Friday afternoon in the American desert, as world No. 3 Rafael Nadal meets Milos Raonic for a sixth time on the ATP World Tour. Nadal leads the head-to-head 5-0 and will be looking to add another victory en route to the final four at Indian Wells.

You can watch the match Live Here: Nadal vs Raonic Live Streaming

Seeded third at the first Masters 1000 event of the season, Nadal earned a comfortable straight sets victory over France’s Gilles Simon to advance to the quarter-final round of the tournament. Nadal’s only hiccup in the match came when he attempted to serve out the contest up 5-2; he allowed Simon to win the next two games before he secured the win.

“Today I think I played a solid match against a tough opponent like Simon that is not easy to play tactically,” Nadal said. “Tactically I think I played a very positive match. In general, I played solid. Only two bad games with my serve, I played bad.”

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The Spaniard will now come up against Raonic, who needed a little over an hour to beat another Spaniard in Tommy Robredo to breeze into the final eight. He won the match 6-3, 6-2.

“He’s an opponent that you don’t want to play against because you play under a lot of pressure, every point,” Nadal said of his next opponent. “What happened today with my serve twice cannot happen the next day if I want to have any chance… So it will be a very tough match. I know I need to be at my 100 per cent to have any chance.”

This marks the sixth time that Nadal and Raonic will meet on the professional tour, with Nadal holding an impenetrable 5-0 record against the Canadian. The last two times they met was in the Miam Masters quarter-final last year and in the final of the Rogers Cup in 2013, the most recent of which being the first time that Nadal dropped a set against the Canadian. While this may be another three-set encounter, the Spaniard should advance to the semi-final in the end.

Prediction: Rafael Nadal in Three Sets

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An enthralling semi-final clash is set to take place in the semi-final round of the Indian Wells event on Friday, as world No. 1 Serena Williams and world No. 3 Simona Halep cross paths once again to determine who will advance to the final. Williams leads the head-to-head series 4-1.

You can watch the SF match Live Here: Williams vs Halep Live Streaming

The tournament’s top seed snapped Timea Bacsinszky’s remarkable 15-match win streak on Wednesday evening when she defeated her 7-5, 6-3 to advance to the semi-final round at Indian Wells. Williams was down 1-3 early in the match but rebounded brilliantly to close out the contest with 23 winners.

“She was on a winning streak, so I was like, ‘I hope I win tonight, because she hasn’t lost in a really long time!’” Williams said on court. “But she has a great future. She’s already making a future now.”

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In one of her most impressive showings of determination this season, the world No. 3 rallied from a set down to claw her way to victory against Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro. After dropping the 51-minute opening set, Halep rebounded to lose just two games in the following two set and closed out the match 5-7, 6-1, 6-1.

“She was opening the court pretty well with the angles, and it’s really tough to play and hit the balls from wide in the court, so I knew I had to start playing more aggressively and hit more into the court,” Halep explained in her on-court interview after the match. “I just tried to relax my body and my mind, fight for every point and play my best. And I’m happy to be in the semifinals here again.

“I’m looking forward to maybe playing the No.1 in the world again now!”

This marks the sixth time that Williams and Halep will meet on the professional tour, and the first time this season. It is safe to say that Williams will be on high alert against Halep, as she will likely remember the devastating loss in the round robin stage of the WTA finals. Given that the American has looked better so far this week, the edge should go to Serena ahead of the Friday encounter.

Prediction: Serena Williams in Three Sets

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