Five-time finalist books meeting with Marin Cilic; Roger Federer and Juan Martin del Potro in overnight quarter-final action
Saturday 18 August 2018 01:02, UK
Novak Djokovic remained on course to win an elusive Cincinnati Masters title as he defeated Milos Raonic to reach the semi-finals.
The Wimbledon champion, who had earlier completed his weather-affected last-16 encounter against defending champion Grigor Dimitrov, defeated his big-serving Canadian opponent 7-5 4-6 6-3.
Djokovic came into the meeting with a perfect record from their previous eight meetings but was pushed hard by the former Grand Slam finalist.
Raonic was forced to save five break points in his opening service game before he broke Djokovic in the seventh game of the match to earn the early initiative, leading the world No 10 to take his frustration out on his racket.
But a run of four successive games for Djokovic, including breaking Raonic when he served for the first set at 5-4, saw the Serbian gain the upper hand.
Raonic, world No 29, responded well as he broke Djokovic in the third game of the second set before maintaining his focus behind his serve to a force a deciding set, breaking a run of 17 sets in Djokovic's favour between the two players.
The deciding set saw both players trade breaks of serve until Djokovic raised his game and regained control of his emotions to impress on his return of serve to break once again before closing out the contest.
Djokovic will meet 2016 champion Marin Cilic in the semi-finals after the Croatian backed up his victory over Karen Khachanov earlier in the day with an assured 7-6 (9-7) 6-4 victory over Pablo Carreno Busta.
Cilic won the most recent encounter between the two players at the Queen's Club but Djokovic leads the head-to-head 14-2.
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Watch the scheduled semi-finals from the Cincinnati Masters, live on Sky Sports Action from 7pm and Sunday's final on Sky Sports Arena from 9pm.
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