Paris Masters: Raonic beats Berdych, sets up Djokovic showdown

Canadian seventh seed Milos Raonic reached a Masters final for the second time when he beat Czech fifth seed Tomas Berdych 6-3 3-6 7-5 in the semi-finals of the Paris event on Saturday.

Raonic, who qualified for the ATP World Tour Finals on Friday, will take on world number one Novak Djokovic, who bested Japanese sixth seed Kei Nishikori 6-2, 6-3, in the showpiece match.

The big-serving Raonic, runner-up at the Toronto Masters last year, followed up his quarter-final defeat of second seed Roger Federer impressively against the 2005 Paris champion.

After firing down 21 aces against Federer, Raonic had to wait until the fifth game to serve his first on Saturday but by that time he had already broken Berdych for a 3-1 lead.

Although Berdych read his serve pretty well, Raonic held and bagged the opening set when his opponent's sliced backhand sailed long.

Berdych, however, broke in the second game of the second set as Raonic netted a backhand, before holding serve to level the tie.

The third set was a much more balanced affair until Raonic set up the first couple of break points, which were also match points.

He needed only one, wrapping it up when Berdych netted a backhand before smashing his racket on the ground in frustration.

In the other semi-final Djokovic was just too strong for Nishikori.

Image: Milos Raonic of Canada

Photo: Benoit Tessier/Reuters