Milos Raonic – Canada Fan Blog an (unofficial) blog about tennis and Canadian player Milos Raonic

Just enough aces

Raonic advances to the semi-finals in Memphis after defeating Kendrick in another 3 set match, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. But unlike the first two matches of the tournament (which also went the distance), Milos did not require a tiebreak in the final set to win the match. Instead, he got an early break in the third and rode it all the way to the finish line.

After a somewhat dubious call (in Milos' opinion, who was clearly upset by it) which cost him a match point, Raonic came right back to blast an ace for the win bringing his match total to an even 20. According to the commentators, Raonic is 6-0 this year when hitting 20+ aces in a single match. That's a lot of free points.

Here are the stats from today's match (captured from the live scores ticker):

With the win, Milos moves inside the top 50 on the ATP Tour. Not too shabby, but I expect him to keep moving up the rankings over the coming weeks and months. This higher ranking means we'll be seeing much more of Raonic in the bigger ATP Masters 1000 tournaments -- with more points on the line, this is where all the big boys play.

Up next in the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships is either American Sam Querrey (5) or also-American Mardy Fish (4). Their match has just gotten underway in Memphis, where Fish has taken the early lead by breaking Querrey's first service game. Beyond that, Andy Roddick, Lleyton Hewitt and Jaun Martin del Potro are all big names still looking to make it through the top half of the draw.

There is much more good tennis to come in Memphis. I know I'll be watching.

-multi