To kick off our Season In Review Series, ATPWorldTour.com revisits the fiercest rivalries of 2016. Today we feature Andy Murray vs. Milos Raonic:

Two players have capped stellar seasons on the ATP World Tour with career-highs in the Top 5 of the Emirates ATP Rankings. Year-end World No. 1 Andy Murray leads the pack, with a surging Milos Raonic finishing at No. 3 after a semi-final run at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.

Raonic nearly went one step further at the season finale, but a clutch Murray stopped him in his tracks in arguably the match of the year – a three-hour and 38-minute instant classic. With both competitors turning in career years, it’s no surprise that they faced off in multiple thrilling encounters throughout the season.

The budding rivalry had it all in 2016, with meetings on hard, clay and grass and at multiple Grand Slams and ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events. It found a home in London, with final encounters on the lawns of Queen’s Club and Wimbledon, in addition to their epic under the lights at The O2. On paper, it was completely one-sided, with Murray winning all six affairs, but the drama and intensity of each encounter made it one of the best rivalries of the year.

It all started in January, with Murray and Raonic dueling in the semi-finals of the Australian Open. The Scot would prevail in a five-set, four-hour thriller, rallying from the brink of elimination to move into the final 4-6, 7-5, 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-2. Raonic was impeded by an adductor injury as the match progressed and Murray, sensing blood in the water, would break once in the fourth set and twice more in the decider to reach his fifth title match at Melbourne Park.

After capturing their lone clay-court encounter 6-2, 6-0 in the quarter-finals of the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, the rivalry would shift to grass. Their contrast in styles was on full display in the finals of both the Aegon Championships at Queen’s Club and the third Grand Slam of the year at Wimbledon. Murray had the partisan British crowd behind him, but Raonic was buoyed by his big serve on the slick courts and surging confidence in reaching his first major final. Sparks flew as Murray battled from a set and a break down to lift his fifth Queen’s Club crown and denied the Canadian’s bid for history three weeks later at the All England Club in a tight 6-4, 7-6(3), 7-6(2) final.

“Milos has had a great few weeks on the grass and had some unbelievable wins,” said Murray after winning his second Wimbledon title. “His match against Roger in the semis was a great, great match. He is one of the hardest workers out there, always trying to improve and get better.”

“There are guys that are always sort of trying to push those barriers down that these guys try to set up,” Raonic added. “Everybody wants to win. The guy across the net from you wants to take what you’re trying to get. I did the best I could. I tried to put the things together. I tried coming forward, putting pressure on him. He was playing much better than me off the baseline. He was more effective there.”

Murray would add a 6-3, 6-3 victory in the semi-finals of the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in Cincinnati, before squaring off one last time with a spot in the final of the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals on the line. Murray stormed back from another set and a break deficit to triumph after a tournament record three hours and 38 minutes, saving one match point in a pulsating 20-point deciding tie-break. Raonic had Murray’s bid for year-end No. 1 in his hands, but the Scot wrestled free, neutralising his biggest weapons and stretching the Canadian from side to side on the baseline. Raonic demonstrated why he’s one of the elite players in the world, while Murray exhibited his growing affinity for the big moment, emerging 5-7, 7-6(5), 7-6(9).

“It was one of the tougher matches I played this year,” Murray said. “It was not easy… obviously with it being very long, but also mentally tiring as well.”

“I really tried to, in the best way possible, leave it all out there,” Raonic said. “I turned it around for myself twice there at the end of the third… I just did everything I could, everything that was within me, at least, to really try to win.”

View FedEx ATP Head2Head (Murray Leads 9-3)

Murray vs. Raonic: 2016 Meetings

A LOOK BACK

Columbus Challenger (Columbus, Ohio): Fourth seed and #NextGen star Stefan Kozlov picked up his first Challenger title by defeating sixth seed and fellow American Tennys Sandgren, 6-1, 2-6, 6-2. The 18-year-old’s victory marks the third time in the past four weeks that an American teenager has won their maiden Challenger title, with Reilly Opelka prevailing in Charlottesville and Michael Mmoh winning in Knoxville. This is the 13^th time a teenager has won a Challenger this year and Kozlov is now the 17^th #NextGen winner overall. Kozlov rises 30 spots to a career-high Emirates ATP Ranking of No. 116.

American Teen Finalists In 2016

*Escobedo won first Challenger title less than a month after turning 20 in July, in Lexington (USA)

Sandgren’s best two Challenger results this year have come in Columbus, with the 25-year-old reaching the semi-finals at the $50,000 event here in September.

Astana Challenger Capital Cup (Astana, Kazakhstan): Top seed and #NextGen star Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan won his second Challenger title of 2016 in a marathon final over second seed Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan, 6-4, 6-7(4), 7-6(3). The win also marks the first time two #NextGen stars have won Challenger tournaments in the same week. The 21-year-old Nishioka clinched his maiden Challenger title in July in Winnetka, Illinois. His win also ensures he will finish the year inside the Top 100 of the Emirates ATP Rankings.

Andria E Castel Del Monte Challenger (Andria, Italy): Fourth seed Luca Vanni won back-to-back Challenger titles in Italy by defeating fellow Italian and wild card Matteo Berrettini, 5-7, 6-0, 6-3. Vanni also prevailed last week on home soil in Brescia.

Despite the loss, the week was a career breakthrough for Berrettini, who had never reached a Challenger quarter-final prior to this week. The 20-year-old Italian jumped from No. 680 to No. 433 in the Emirates ATP Rankings with his performance in Andria.

WHAT’S AHEAD

That’s a wrap for the 2016 ATP Challenger Tour season. The circuit will be on a five-week hiatus before resuming with events in Australia, Thailand and New Caledonia in January.

CROATIA 2, ARGENTINA 2
Arena Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Davis Cup Final 

Juan Martin del Potro completed a riveting comeback from two sets down to send the Davis Cup Final to a deciding rubber on Sunday.

Del Potro and Argentina silenced a partisan Arena Zagreb crowd with a 6-7(4), 2-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6-3 victory over World No. 6 Marin Cilic and host nation Croatia. The Argentine stalwart and Comeback Player of the Year in the 2016 ATP World Tour Awards Presented by Moët & Chandon, rallied from an 0-2 deficit for the first time in his career.

“It’s tough for me to speak, but I did my best and this is amazing,” said an emotional Del Potro, who overcame 34 aces to prevail after four hours and 53 minutes. He joins Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Milos Raonic, Nick Kyrgios and Cilic as the only players with at least six Top 10 wins this year.

Cilic struck first blood in Sunday’s fourth rubber, breaking to love in the second game and reeling off 12 of the first 14 points to surge ahead 3-0. Del Potro would later break back for 4-4, but his Croatian opponent was too strong in the eventual tie-break, taking it 7-4.

Cilic looked to be in cruise control after snatching the second set 6-2 and denying a pair of break chances early in the third with consecutive clutch aces. The shot of the match came in the opening game of the third set, when Del Potro struck an improbable baseline-to-baseline tweener lob. They would remain on serve until the 12th game, when Del Potro surged to a 0/40 lead. Cilic turned aside the first two set points, but a lunging backhand volley winner would give the Argentine the third.

Another clutch late break leveled the match at two sets apiece, as Del Potro grabbed the fourth 6-4 and he would overcome a quick break to open the decider, reeling off six of the last eight games to complete the improbable comeback. He sealed the win on his first match point when Cilic netted a backhand return, extending his FedEx ATP Head2Head lead to 9-2.

While it was the first two-set comeback in Del Potro’s career, it marked the third time Cilic had relinquished a two-set lead in 2016 alone. He had fallen to Jack Sock in Davis Cup play and to Roger Federer in the Wimbledon quarter-finals.

Federico Delbonis will face Ivo Karlovic to decide the tie. It is the first live fifth rubber in the Davis Cup Final since 2012 and ’13, when Radek Stepanek won consecutive live fifth rubbers against Spain and Serbia, respectively.

Croatia is seeking their second Davis Cup title, having lifted the trophy in 2005, while four-time finalist Argentina is eyeing its first.