Jannik Sinner ‘struggling a little bit’ but reaches Rotterdam semi-finals after Milos Raonic retires with injury

Jannik Sinner reached the last four of the Rotterdam Open after Milos Raonic retired early in the second set of their quarter-final.

Australian Open champion Sinner was pushed hard in the opening set by the big-serving Canadian and had to save two set points in the 10th game.

But Sinner took the set in a tie-breaker and Raonic then retired due to injury trailing 7-6(4) 1-1.

It is the second injury retirement of the year for Raonic, who was playing his first ATP quarter-final in three-and-a-half years.

Reflecting on his display, Sinner said: “I was up a break in the first set and missed a couple of things. In the last two rounds I was struggling a little bit to find myself on the court and also today I feel like he was playing better than me in the first set.

“At the end of the day this is not how you want to win the match. He has had so many injuries throughout his career and hopefully he will have a speedy recovery.”

Sinner will next play home favourite Tallon Griekspoor, who beat Emil Ruusuvuori 7-5 7-6(4) in the quarter-finals.

Sinner has now won 23 of his last 24 matches and will move to a career-high No. 3 in the world if he wins the title in Rotterdam.

The Italian got the first break of the match against Raonic to lead 3-2, but was immediately pegged back as Raonic levelled the contest.

Sinner wasn’t at his very best but found a brilliant forehand winner to save a set point at 5-4.

Raonic then missed a forehand on a second set point and it was Sinner who took the set in a tie-breaker.

The second set lasted just nine minutes as Raonic appeared to grimace after making it 1-1 and then shook hands with the umpire and Sinner.

Alex de Minaur will face Grigor Dimitrov in the other semi-final.

De Minaur beat second seed Andrey Rublev 7-6(5) 4-6 6-3 in two hours and 32 minutes, having lost to him in the fourth round of the Australian Open last month.

“I kept telling myself to be brave and go after it, because ultimately I can’t just run around against Andrey,” said De Minaur.

“He’s got too much power, too many weapons, and he’ll just dictate me from one side to the other.

“So if I want to be effective against Andrey, I’ve got to back myself, I’ve got to try to be aggressive and hit the ball flatter and bigger than I normally do. In big moments, I played great, and it got me the win today.”

Dimitrov secured a tour-leading 13th victory of the season with a 7-6(2) 3-6 6-4 victory against Alexander Shevchenko.

It will be the second year in a row that Dimitrov and De Minaur have met in Rotterdam on February 17, which is a special day for De Minaur.

“I played him on my birthday, and he was rude enough to beat me when I was two match points up,” said De Minaur about their quarter-final clash last year.

“I’m playing him tomorrow, which will be my birthday again, so I’m hoping he’s a little bit nicer to me. We’ll see.”