Rafael Nadal and Milos Raonic are playing in the 2014 ATP Sony Open Tennis tournament quarterfinals on Thursday night and the matchup comes live online from ESPN2 on TV and the WatchESPN website and the Spanish star will try to get past the Canadian and comes in at number one in the tournament and this is the third match of the day after Serena Williams won over Maria Sharapova.
Nadal has once again played very well this year and he is looking to advance to the semis with a win on Thursday night and he has played well at this tournament in the past. Nadal has won two titles already this year and last season he had his best in years, winning more times than he has ever and he had 10 singles titles last year and he is on his way to getting close to that and can add another one with a great performance here. Nadal got a bye in the first round and then won against Lleyton Hewitt and Denis Istomin in straight sets to advance and in those two matches he only gave up a combined five games. Nadal then won over Fabio Fognini 6-2, 6-2 to set up his match with Raonic.
Nadal has been looking very strong as of late and he dominated Fognini despite very windy conditions and now he has the chance to keep things going and he has yet to drop a set in the tournament. In the third round against Istomin Nadal was hit with a warning for slow play and he ended up finishing that match in less than an hour and he is hoping for a similar result on Thursday. Nadal won the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha earlier in the year with a victory over Gael Monfils in the finals and then he ended up losing the Australian Open to Stanislas Wawrinka after sustaining an injury and after that he won the ATP Rio Open 500 over Alexandr Dolgopolov for his titles this year.
Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer have won the last two tournaments on the schedule and now things are starting to take a good turn for Nadal, as the Clay court season is coming. Nadal is at his best on clay and he has the French Open coming up that he won last year along with tournaments in Barcelona and the Monte Carlo Masters. Nadal was able to get over his back injury earlier in the year to win in Rio and now he is the favorite here and he could have a matchup with Djokovic in the finals and that could also be a preview of the French later on the schedule. Serena Williams won her match easily over Sharapova and she once again is looking strong after winning the Open last year with Nadal.
Check here for the Rafael Nadal and Raonic live coverage from ESPN and the WatchESPN website streaming online.