Thiem beats Raonic, advance to Indian Wells final

IANS
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ABU DHABI, Dec. 28, 2018 (Xinhua) -- Dominic Thiem of Austria competes during his match against Karen Khachanov of Russia at the 2018 Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), on Dec. 27, 2018. Dominic Thiem lost 0-2. (Xinhua/Mahmoud Khaled/IANS)

Indian Wells (US), March 17 (IANS) The Austrian Dominic Thiem will contest the Indian Wells final after beating Canadian Milos Raonic 7-6 (3), 6-7 (3), 6-4 in two hours and 31 minutes.

In Saturday's game, Thiem was the one who in the end had more patience and knew how to better manage the only break point of the match, which came in the fifth game of the third set.

In the first set, it was Thiem who squeezed ahead 5-1. Raonic reacted in the second set winning 82 per cent of the points with his first service and saving the only break point of the game, reports Efe news.

In the decisive set came the key point for Thiem, who celebrated with clenched fists, aware of its importance. His rival was hesitant with the service and paid dearly.

This is the first victory of Thiem against Raonic, who has reached the semi-finals of Indian Wells since 2015, but has not won a title since January 2016 in Brisbane. In that same period, Thiem has won eight championships.