PARIS – Canada’s Milos Raonic defeated Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 in semifinal play Saturday at the Paris Masters.
Raonic picked up a break in the final game to complete the victory in two hours eight minutes. He’ll play defending champion Novak Djokovic in Sunday’s final after the top-ranked Serb defeated Japan’s Kei Nishikori 6-2, 6-3 in the other semifinal.
READ MORE: Milos Raonic beats Roger Federer for the first time at Paris Masters
Trailing 5-6 in the deciding set, Berdych needed to hold serve to set up a tiebreaker. Instead he wobbled with two double-faults and two more unforced errors, the second coming on a baseline shot that found the net.
“It was generous,” Raonic said. “I was not getting to the break-point opportunities, but a few of the games at the end I think I was getting a few points into the service games. In a very uncharacteristic way, he sort of just gave me a big opening and I did good enough to make the most of it.
“I know my game starts from holding my serve, so starting the third set I put a very heavy emphasis on focusing on that and simplifying my game as much as possible.”
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Berdych smashed his racket on the court in frustration after his final error. Raonic, meanwhile, pumped his fist and let out a celebratory roar.
“There is not much to say, I just totally messed it up with the last game,” said Berdych. “It was definitely the worst game I ever played here (at) this tournament this year. That’s what decides it and what makes it feel bad.
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“You have days like this that when things are going well, at the last moment everything is gone.”
Raonic, the No. 7 seed from Thornhill, Ont., had 12 aces and converted two of three break-point opportunities. Berdych had seven aces and broke Raonic once in four tries.
The Canadian, who improved to 3-1 lifetime against Berdych, has won six ATP Tour titles over his career but is still looking to break through at the Masters 1000 and Grand Slam level. He has a 0-3 head-to-head mark against Djokovic.
Raonic’s strong performance this week helped him lock up a spot in the season-ending ATP Finals this month in London.
He beat world No. 2 Roger Federer on Friday for his first career win over the Swiss star. It was also his first victory over one of the so-called Big Three of Federer (now 1-6), Djokovic and third-ranked Rafael Nadal (0-5).
Raonic ended an 11-month title drought last August with his first victory at a World Tour 500-level event in Washington. He defeated Vancouver’s Vasek Pospisil in the first men’s singles final between Canadians in the Tour’s Open era.
Raonic reached a career-high No. 6 in the world rankings the following week. He currently holds the No. 10 position.
He has also made strides at the Grand Slam level this season. Raonic made his first French Open quarter-final appearance before falling to Djokovic and went one round further at Wimbledon before losing to Federer in the semifinals.
Raonic reached his first Masters 1000 final last year at the Rogers Cup in Montreal. He lost to Nadal in the final.
“This is a guy we need to watch for the future,” Berdych said of Raonic. “He’s slowly proving that he’s going to be really a tough player with all the weapons that he has.
“He’s been in a tough situation all this week and he handled it well.”
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