Lucas Pouille defeats Milos Raonic to reach Australian Open semi-finals
Lucas Pouille becomes first Frenchman to reach the semi-finals of the Australian Open since Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in 2010
Wednesday 23 January 2019 10:25, UK
Frenchman Lucas Pouille reached his maiden Grand Slam semi-final with a four-set victory over Milos Raonic at the Australian Open.
The 28th seed Pouille, who is coached by former Australian Open champion Amelie Mauresmo, silenced big-serving Canadian Raonic to win 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 6-7 (2-7) 6-4 in a little over three hours to reach the last four of a major for the first time.
Pouille trailed 2-5 in the first set but battled back to clinch it in the tie-break, before racing through the next.
Raonic claimed the third set to give himself hope, but Pouille switched gears in the next to seal the win on his third match point.
Pouille reached the quarter-finals of Wimbledon and the US Open in 2016 but struggled to build on that and endured a disappointing 2018.
There was little to indicate he was about to go on such a run after beginning this season with four defeats but he gave credit to Mauresmo, who he hired in the off-season.
Pouille is following in Andy Murray's footsteps as a top male player to hire a female coach - in this case the same one - and, replying to John McEnroe's assertion in the on-court interview that more men should look to women as coaches, the 24-year-old said: "They should.
"She has the right mindset, she knows everything about tennis. It's not about being a woman or a man, you just have to know what you're doing and she does."
The 24-year-old had never won a match at Melbourne Park before this year but will face world No 1 Novak Djokovic for a place in the final.
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