As the top seeds fell at the 2017 Australian Open a dream matchup began to come into focus.   One more Grand Slam final between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.  

You can watch Raonic face Nadal, tonight at 3:30am et/12:30 am pt. across the TSN Network and on TSN GO.

There are still a few players looking to crash that party Down Under.  The highest ranked of the interlopers is Canadian Milos Raonic, who will face Nadal in the quarterfinals.

"If you think about the historical significance of what that match would look like, one at 14 slams, one at 17 slams," Andy Roddick said of a possible Federer vs. Nadal final. “If that happens, it has to be the most important match in Australian Open history and possibly grand slam history."

While most of the world watching will be hoping for that outcome, Canadian tennis fans will be backing their 26-year-old countryman to get back to the final four, where he was eliminated from the 2016 tournament by Andy Murray in a five-set battle.

Raonic, the third ranked men’s player,  became the highest seed remaining in the 2017 men’s draw when Murray and Novak Djokovic , the man that beat him for the title last year were both bounced from the tournament.

Nadal will be playing in his 30th grand slam quarterfinal and his first since the 2015 French Open, where he fell to Djokovic in straight sets.

The Canadian earned his place in the quarters with a four-set victory over another Spaniard, No. 13 seed Roberto Bautista Agut where he hit 33 aces to run his tournament total to 93.
 

 Raonic vs. Nadal career head to head

 
YEAR WINNER EVENT SURFACE RESULT
2017 Raonic Brisbane Hard 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
2015 Nadal Shanghai Hard 6-3, 7-6
2015 Raonic Indian Wells Hard 4-6, 7-6, 7-5
2014 Nadal Miami Hard 4-6, 6-2, 6-4
2013 Nadal Montreal Hard 6-2, 6-2
2013 Nadal Barcelona Clay 6-4, 6-0
2011 Nadal Tokyo Hard 7-5, 6-3
2010 Nadal Tokyo Hard 6-4, 6-4
 

You do not have to go back very far to find the last meeting of these quarterfinalists, the pair played in the same round of the Brisbane International tournament in early January.  After dropping the first set, Raonic fought off an early break in the second and stormed back for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory.

"We both tried to be the aggressors early on,” Raonic said about the Brisbane match. “I fought through a difficult moment midway through that second set, then I thought I had it pretty handily after that point.”

"I found that tipping - that sort of turning point - that I was looking for in that match. Obviously it's very within me to find those solutions again, I believe."

Meanwhile, Nadal will be looking for a better outcome as he continues to take aim at his 15th Grand Slam title.

“He's an opponent that makes you feel that you're playing with a lot of pressure all the time because his serve is huge and he's playing very aggressive from the baseline," said Nadal.  "So (it's) going to be a very tough match, but I hope to be ready for it.”

While Raonic holds the most recent victory in the head-to-head battle, Nadal has captured six of the eight times the men have met.  They have never met at a Grand Slam event and this will be their first ever best-of-five sets match.

The winner between Raonic and Nadal will advance to face the victor between David Goffin and Grigor Dimitrov in the semifinals.

Federer and Stan Wawrinka have both already advanced to the other semifinal matchup.