Raonic into semifinals at Indian Wells, Thiem advances on Monfils' withdraw

WASHINGTON, March 15 (Xinhua) -- Milos Raonic of Canada moved one step closer to his first Masters 1000 title at the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells after fending off Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia 6-3, 6-4 in the quarterfinals.

The 19-year-old Kecmanovic, making his first tour-level quarterfinal appearance, held Raonic under pressure in the match, but failed to convert the three break points he fought to.

"I knew it was going to be tough. He's won his last three matches against good players...So I knew he had nothing to lose, and I had to be really disciplined with myself, and I'm happy I was able to follow through," Raonic said.

The Canadian did not wait long for his semifinal opponent, as the 18th-seeded Gael Monfils withdrew due to a strained left Achilles, which sent Austria's Dominic Thiem into the semifinals.

In the women's quarterfinals, Germany's eighth-seed Angelique Kerber defeated Venus Williams 7-6 (3), 6-3 to book a semifinal matchup with world no.5 Karolina Pliskova, the top seed remaining in the tournament, after the Czech put an end to Swiss young talent Belinda Bencic's amazing tour at Indian Wells.

Friday will see five-time champion Roger Federer of Switzerland face unseeded Hubert Hurkacz of Poland and second seed Rafael Nadal of Spain take on 12th seed Karen Khachanov of Russia in the other two quarterfinal matches.