Live: Nadal vs. Raonic

Ninth seed and 2009 champion Rafael Nadal leads third seed Milos Raonic 6-4 on Wednesday night in their Australian Open quarter-final. The winner will play No. 15 seed Grigor Dimitrov, a straight-sets winner over No. 11 seed David Goffin, on Friday.

Nadal targeted Raonic’s backhand early on, a clear tactic from fellow Mallorcan Carlos Moya, a former World No. 1 and Raonic’s former coach now working with Nadal. Raonic saved one break point in the fifth game, but lost his serve by striking an overhead long to gift Nadal a 4-3 lead. Nadal’s 12 winners, nine of 10 net points won, and just two unforced errors highlighted a dominant display in the 43-minute opener.

Raonic is looking to record his second straight win over Nadal, having beaten the 14-time Grand Slam champion in the quarter-finals of the recent Brisbane International presented by Suncorp.

Nadal, who leads 6-2 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series, is attempting to record his 50th match win at the Melbourne Park major. He’s also looking for a spot in his 24th Grand Slam championship semi-final.