Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine reached the semifinals of the ATP Masters 1000 BNP Paribas Open 2014 in Indian Wells on Thursday after he defeated 10th-seed Canadian Milos Raonic 6-3, 6-4. This is Dolgopolov’s first trip to the semifinals of an ATP Masters 1000 event.
This is Dolgopolov’s third consecutive victory over a seeded player, with wins over top seed and defending champion Rafael Nadal, 13th seed Fabio Fognini of Italy in the fourth round and Raonic.
“I was quite fast today,” said Dolgopolov. “I was really happy with that. And I was able to get more returns than usually you can against him. He serves really big and I knew I had to do that, and I’m quite pleased how I anticipated on his serve and have seen the toss of the ball and was really, really concentrated to get those serves back.”
Raonic could only produce four aces in this event.
“I thought I did a lot of things well, as well,” said Raonic. “I really was pushing myself, because I was hoping that if I forced myself to stay strong with an attitude that the game would come. I just wish I could have served better. But other than that, he did the right things at the right times right away from the start of the match. He was a factor of why I didn’t serve as well as I would have liked as well.”
Dolgopolov has a strong run in the past month, including a runner-up finish at the ATP 500 Rio Open.
“I played good for three weeks,” he said. “I’m quite fresh. I felt good physically today. I’m confident enough to come out and play good tennis. Then who knows, you know? I beat a lot of good players around here, so I wouldn’t see why not win more matches.
“I’ll just come out, do my best, and of course it’s going to be really tough because it’s semis or finals. No bad players left and no players not in the top form now.”
The former world number 13 will also see a resurgence in rankings. He’s projected to rise eight spots to number 23 on Monday with a semifinal run here, higher if he goes all the way to the title win.
Raonic says he’s still satisfied with a quarterfinal run here considering he was sidelined since the Australian Open due to injury.
“I think coming here, if anybody sort of offered me a signed piece of paper to say, Would you like to be in the quarter-finals this week, especially with what I have been struggling with, how much more I would have liked to have prepared for the event, I would have signed that sheet right away,” he said. “I think that says enough.”
